


'GRO 



^ason in Equity 



A PUBLIC ADDRESS 



AUTHORIZED BY THE 



Mr. W.\ Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for 
the State of Ohio and its Jurisdiction, 




For the purpose of placing before the World the Historical jpi 
Facts upon which the Negro Mason in America 
bases his claim to Legitimacy and 
Consequent Rights, 



— by — 

M. . W. . Samuel W. Clark, 

Grand Master of Colored Masons of the State of Ohio, 



1886. 



ROGERS k TULEV, PRINTERS, 



V V V V "V V "V 



I 



THE 



Negro Mason in Equity: 

A PUBLIC ADDRESS 

AUTHORIZED BY THE 

Mr. W. . Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for 
the State of Ohio and its Jurisdiction, 




For the purpose of placing befope the World the Historical 
Facts upon which the Negro Mason in America 
bases his claim to legitimacy and 
Consequent Rights, 

— BY — 

M.\ W.\ SAMUEL W. CLARK, 

Grand Master of Colored Masons of the State of Ohio. 



1886. 



INTRODUCTION. 



At the Thirty-fourth Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge 
of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of Ohio and Jurisdiction, 
held in Cleveland, Ohio, August 12, 1884, I, as Grand Master, in my 
official address submitted the following for the consideration of the 
Craft: 

"With our centennial year come greater duties and consequent 
responsibilities. The time is full at hand when we must no longer 
depend upon our friends to do battle for us. The fight must be our 
own. Neither must it be a defensive one; we must be aggressive; 
we must assert ourselves ; we must tear away the flimsy mask behind 
which the white American Mason takes refuge from the penetrating 
eye of Truth and Justice. Let us turn upon him the fierce light of 
recorded history, thereby disclosing to the open gaze of the world the 
false, unjust, and un-Masonic position which he assumes. To this end 
I would recommend the preparation of an address, to be submitted to 
the world at large, of such scope as to meet all points at issue." 

The Committee on Grand Master's Address, to whom my address 
was referred, reported as follows: 

'■'•Resolved, That the recommendation to appoint a committee to 
issue an address to the world at large — in relation to the position and 
legality of colored Masons — be approved, and that M. \ W. \ Grand 
Master Samuel W. Clark shall be chairman of said committee." 

This report was unanimously adopted, and by virtue of the author- 
ity conferred therein this address has been prepared; and in accord- 
ance with a resolution adopted at the Thirty-fifth Annual Communica- 
tion of the Grand Lodge, the same is now published and distributed 
gratuitously. 

The negro Mason has never been recognized by the white Amer- 
ican Masons, officially, as a just and legal Mason, although many, 
having from a careful examination of history satisfied themselves of 
his genuineness and authenticity, have done so unofficially. He has 
been termed spurious, clandestine, irregular, and every thing else but 
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THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



a true and regular Mason. Two reasons may be given as the chief 
ones for this unjust position taken by the white Masons of the United 
States: First, the general ignorance of the great mass of American 
Masons concerning our origin and history; secondly, the bitter preju- 
dice which so many white Americans have against the negro. This 
prejudice, which seems to be almost inherent, if not wholly so, ren- 
ders them unfit to do justice to the negro Mason; they either refuse to 
examine the records of history for fear they may discover that the 
negro's right is equal to theirs, or, knowing the facts, they endeavor 
to subvert them by misstatements and false reasoning. Thus, the 
large mass of white American Masons having no information of their 
own, but depending wholly upon the ex parte statements of prejudiced 
minds, formulate their opinions accordingly, and readily unite in the 
almost universal cry of illegitimacy and irregularity. 

We are inclined to believe that the great body of the Craft, not- 
withstanding the bitter prejudices against us, will deal justly with our 
cause when once they are clearly informed concerning it; we can not 
yet believe that the great body of the Craft will be false to the doc- 
trines and tenets of their profession; we believe that Truth, Justice, 
and Brotherly Love must prevail. 

Therefore we submit this address, first, to the Fraternity at large, 
so that it may be fully advised concerning our history, and have no 
excuse for failing to right a wrong that has existed for more than a 
century; secondly, we submit it to the world at large, so that it may 
know upon what grounds we base our claims to legitimacy and con- 
sequent rights. And if these rights be granted us, new honors will 
be won by our Ancient and Honorable Institution, and its members 
clothed with a higher sense of justice will receive commendations of 
praise from their fellow-men; but if they are denied us, we will appeal 
to the world at large, where, at the bar of public opinion, we will sub- 
mit our cause, feeling confident of a just verdict, which will be mani- 
fested by the marking of all those who refuse us as a multitude of 
hypocrites professing all the virtues but acting as veritable shams, and 
belying the sublime principles of an institution which has for its chief 
corner-store the "Brotherhood of man because of the Fatherhood of 
God." 

The chief aim in preparing this address has been, first, to state in 
simple and plain language the exact facts concerning the origin and 
growth of Masonry among colored men in America; secondly, to 
refute the false reasonings of our enemies; and thirdly, to make a 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



5 



comparison between the history of the white Mason and the negro 
Mason of America. 

We have chosen the title ' 'Negro Mason" in preference to "Col- 
ored Mason," first, because the term "colored" can be as correctly 
applied to the Mongolian, the Malay, the Indian, or the Australian, 
as to the African, or the American of African descent, and we desire 
the title to indicate with certainty the party at bar; secondly, we are 
loyal to our African blood. Whatever of wrong we have suffered has 
been because of our African descent; and now if the right is to be 
done to us, we want it because it is ours to have; and we want it 
given to us not under the softening appellation of "colored Amer- 
ican," but as wearing the badge of the African negro, having with all 
humanity a common Fatherhood in God. 

The greatest care has been taken to state nothing as a historical 
fact but what can be authenticated by records now in existence and 
accessible to all students of Masonic history. Nothing has been 
guessed at, nothing has been surmised. We therefore present you 
an address, not made up with fanciful pictures drawn from the imagi- 
nation, but a plain, substantial statement of facts. 

Our acknowledgments are due to 111. \ Bro. Enoch T. Carson and 
R. •. W. •. Bro. John D. Caldwell, editor of New Day and New Duty, 
for their kindness in allowing us free access to their Masonic libraries,, 
by which means we were enabled to verify all the facts stated herein ; 
also are we indebted to the Reports on Foreign Correspondence made 
by M.\ W. •. Bro. Wm. T. Boyd to our own Grand Lodge. To all 
these brethren we return our thanks. 

We ask that you may give what here follows your most careful at- 
tention and consideration, with the hope that whatever prejudices you 
may have against us will be dispelled, and having your minds illumi- 
nated by the facts of history, you will be impelled thereby to lift up 
your voices in the defence of Truth and Justice, and "Render unto 
Caesar the things which are Caesar's." S. W. C. 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY, 

BY 

M.-. W.*. Bro. Samuel W. Clark. 



Underlying every institution, whether human or divine, there are 
certain cardinal principles, tenets, and doctrines. And according to 
their merit as impressed upon the mind of man these institutions have 
grown and flourished, or have dwindled and decayed. Consequently, 
those that have become most extensive in their domain, and have with- 
stood longest against the lapse of time, the scrutiny of reason, and the 
venom of prejudice, are entitled to the highest degree of merit. 

Occupying a high place among these meritorious institutions, accept- 
ing the above measurement as true, is the most ancient and Honorable 
Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons. 

With becoming pride the enthusiastic Mason discourses in eloquent 
language upon the antiquity and universality of Masonry, and upon 
the sublimity of its principles. Upon the airy wings of imagination he 
will transport you to the Garden of Eden or to the tower of Babel ; 
by the aid of tradition he will take you to the building of Solomon's 
Temple, iooo B. C; or, if you be not satisfied with this, by the aid of 
documentary and historical evidence he will carry you to the founda- 
tion of the Colleges of Builders, instituted by Numa Pompilius, 715 
B. C. All this will he do to prove its antiquity. To prove its univer- 
sality he will tell you that among the devotees around its altars may be 
found the fair-skinned Caucasian and the dark-hued African, the al- 
mond-eyed Mongolian and the copper-colored Indian. He will tell 
you that neither race nor creed nor clime nor condition is a barrier to 
an entrance into its sanctuaries. 

But this generalization is not satisfactory. Permit me to present to 
you the authorized expressions of leading Masonic scholars and emi- 
nent American Masons upon some of the principles and tenets of our 
institution, and which have been adopted as the line of action for all 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



7 



Masons. Many of these quotations we have found in Bro. John D. 
Caldwell's New Day-New Duty. We select, first, from the Craftsman, 
the text relating to that chief tenet, Brotherly Love : 

"By the exercise of brotherly love we are taught to regard the 
whole human species as one family — the high and low, the rich and 
poor — who, as created by one Almighty Parent, and inhabitants of the 
same planet, are to aid, support, and protect each other. On this 
principle, Masonry unites men of every country, sect, and opinion, 
and conciliates true friendship among those who might otherwise have 
remained at a perpetual distance." 

The following passages relating to this tenet are quoted from ' ' Illus- 
trations of the Symbols of Masonry," by Jacob Ernst (p. 200) : 

" Upon the merits of this virtue we place our institution second to 
none. Its influence will accomplish what others fail to do. It is a 
bond of union that draws man to his fellow-man, however widely apart; 
gives mutual confidence and protection, whatever his caste or creed 
may be — a brother true will ever recognize a brother's hail. 

" The potency of this principle exists in the fact that Masonry une- 
quivocally excludes from its halls every thing that is at variance with 
the requirements of a universal brotherhood." 

On this same topic Gadicke says : 

" He who does not find his heart warmed with love toward all man- 
kind should never strive to be made a Freemason, for he can not exer- 
cise brotherly love." 

At the great Masonic banquet in St. Louis, September, 1868, Bro. 
Albert Pike said : 

" God pity the man who will not lay on the altar of Masonry every 
feeling of ambition, every feeling of ill-will in his heart toward a brother 
Mason, no matter what rite you may believe, at what altar of Masonry 
you may worship. Freemasonry is one faith, one great religion, one 
great common altar, around which all men, of all tongues and all lan- 
guages can assemble ; in which there can be no rivalry, except a noble 
emulation of rites, orders, and degrees, which can best work and best 
agree. 

"And Masonry will never be trug to her mission till we all join 
hands, heart to heart, and hand to hand, around the altar of Masonry 
with a determination that Masonry shall become at some time worthy 
of her pretensions — no longer a pretender to that which is good; but 
that she shall be a?i apostle of peace, good-will, charity, and tqleration." 

Grand Master Griswold, of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, in his 
address to the Grand Lodge, says : 



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THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



" Masonry knows no sects, no religions, as such; no castes, no 
nationalities; no black, no white. The color line is not found in 
Masonry; it has no place there. It is at war with all its teachings. 
To introduce it would be to mar the symmetry of our beautiful temple, 
and to give the lie to our words when we say that we believe in the 
Brotherhood of man because of the Fatherhood of God." 

Grand Master Farnell, of the Grand Lodge of New South Wales, in 
his address when installed as Grand Master, says : 

" Political connections and attachments is one thing, and Masonic 
another thing. The former has its geographical bounds or limits, and 
is confined to nations or countries; the latter has no bounds or limits, 
it embraces all nations, and is so universal that it admits of no exclu- 
sion amidst the worthy portion of God's creatures; climate, country, 
color, education, or religion, make no difference. Let this universal 
bond of union be broken by political geographical boundaries, by the 
difference of nationalities and peoples, and we become a rope of sand 
and lose that strength, weight, and influence which concord and una- 
nimity will secure to us." 

Grand Master A. H. Battin, of Ohio, in his address to the Grand 
Lodge in 1875, says: 

" But whether he comes from the jungles of Africa, the swamps of 
Carolina, the plains of Hindoostan, the sands of Arabia, the snow- 
capped summits of Norway, the Emerald Isle, the sunny fields of 
France, or from whatever nation or clime he may have traveled, if 
he is a Mason, and can prove himself such, he should be welcomed as 
a man and a brother into our Lodges and entitled to equal rights in 
our great brotherhood. The boast of Masons has been that its votaries 
possess the same mystic language in every clime, that its language is 
universal, entitled to recognition wherever heard or manifested, and 
that all Masons, in the character of Masons, stand upon the most per- 
fect equality." 

Grand Master Whitehead, of New Jersey, in his address to the 
Grand Lodge in 1868, says : 

" The central idea of Masonry — the foundation stone upon w T hich 
the superstructure rests — is the recognition and practical application of 
the great principle of the universal brotherhood of man, whether he 
drew his first breath amid polar^nows or under the burning sun of the 
tropics; whether he owe political allegiance to an empire, a kingdom, 
or a republic ; whether he be clothed in the purple of Dives or the rags 
of Lazarus; whether his skin be bleached with the hue of Caucasian, 
or be clouded with the 'shadow'd livery of the burnish'd sun;' whether 
he worships his God in a Methodist Meeting-house, an Episcopal 
Church, a Catholic Cathedral, a Jewish Synagogue, or a Mohammedan 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



9 



Mosque. The great lesson which Masonry teaches to its votaries is, 
that 

' A man is a man for a' that.' 

" The great heart of humanity, weary of the unceasing and harass- 
ing strife of this busy and selfish world, where 

4 The natural bond 
Of brotherhood is severed as the flax 
That falls asunder at the touch of fire,' 

longs for some common platform where contentions can never reach it 
more. And this eager longing of the human heart the Masonic insti- 
tution alone can satisfy. Here we are all citizens of one country, which 
is the great globe itself ; members of one family, which is the entire 
human race ; children of one Father, which is God. And this I con- 
ceive is the true idea of the institution of Masonry." 

Grand Master Gardner, of Massachusetts, in his address to the 
Grand Lodge, 1870, says: 

"The institution of Freemasonry is universal. It stretches from 
East to West, from North to South, and embraces within itself the 
representatives of every branch of the human family. Its carefully 
tiled doors swing open, not at the knock of every man, but at the 
demand of every true and worthy man duly accepted, whatever his 
religion, his race, or his country may be. 

' ' This Grand Lodge stands upon the high vantage ground of this 
catholic society, and recognizes the great principles which must neces- 
sarily underlie an institution which has a home on the continents and 
on the islands of the sea. 

"We bear upon the Mason's arms of Massachusetts, and have 
inscribed upon our Grand Lodge banner, 'Man every where our 
brother.' " 

In an address made by Bro. Robert Hall, of Massachusetts, we 
find the following: 

" The wisdom of Masonry is exemplified in establishing her basis 
on the immutable foundations of truth. The shackles fell from the 
hands of prejudice and bigotry at the entrance of her shrine. . 
In her sacred retreat every discordant voice is hushed, and the bitter- 
ness of sectarian strife is abashed into silence in the awful presence of 
pure and absolute Truth. On any platform than this she could not 
comprehend in her embrace all the tribes of men, as the human race 
now exists, or has ever existed. It is the recognition of these princi- 
ples, and the acknowledgment of corresponding obligations, which 
alone render it possible to make her privileges available to the whole 
-of the great human family. If she should require any other creed 
than that God is our Father, and that men are his children, and there- 
fore bound to love him and one another, her grand object would at 



IO 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



once be defeated. . . . Next to allegiance to God, and spring- 
ing from it its controlling principle, is love for man as man. 
Masonry meets man in all the varieties of his condition with sym- 
pathy, and comprehends him in all the wants of his complex nature. 
She esteems every man the peer of his fellow in nature and rights. 
Before her altar distinctions vanish, and all men meet on the leveL 
The prince and the peasant stand alike in her presence. Whatever is 
common to man is not foreign to her regard." 

From an address made to the Grand Lodge of Iowa, Bro, Wm. R. 
Whitaker, of Louisiana, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Com- 
munications, in reviewing Iowa, selects the following, and gives it his 
indorsement as exhibiting a true Masonic spirit : 

"The great central idea of Masonry is the doctrine of a universal 
brotherhood, with 'charity to all.' Notwithstanding its antiquity and 
the illustrious names found among its patrons in all ages and countries, 
if it have not charity it is nothing ; not the charity of the Priest and 
Levite that, standing in the immediate presence of human suffering, 
asks 'Who is my neighbor?' but the charity of the Good Samaritan, 
which in its comprehensive compassion regards every man as a brother, 
of whatsoever nation or kindred or tongue or people. It stops not to 
ask whether the sufferer follows Calvin, Wesley, or Fox, nor whether 
he is Christian, Jew, or Turk; a charity that knows no difference be- 
tween the cross of Christ and the crescent of Mohammed, but lovingly 
regards every one as a child of the 'Great Father,' 'who heeds and 
holds them all in his large love and boundless thought.' " 

Thus might we fill page after page with beautiful quotations enliv- 
ened, like the foregoing, with the true spirit of Masonry, for its litera- 
ture abounds in such lofty and sublime expressions of sentiment as 
have here been given you. We feel, however, that these are suffi- 
cient to indicate the prevailing sentiment of the eminent Masons of 
the North and the South, the East and the West. And after all, is it 
nothing but sentiment? Is there nothing practical in all these utter- 
ances? Are they so many empty, meaningless words spoken only to 
catch the plaudits of unthinking listeners? or are they meant to have 
application only to the races other than the negro? It would seem so; 
for, in America, more than twenty thousand negro Masons, free 'and 
accepted, true and worthy, stand knocking at the "carefully tiled 
doors" of the white American Mason, but they "swing not open to 
their knock." Here in America there stand to-day more than twenty 
thousand negro Masons demanding of the white American Mason that 
he prove by his works the realism of the beautiful sentiment " Man is 
every-where our brother." But he answers not to the demand. With 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



1 1 



perfect rhetoric and eloquent language he will proclaim that " Masonry 
is established on the immutable foundation of truth," and has for its 
central idea the "doctrine of a universal brotherhood." But we say 
to him your professions are not sustained by works, and that you do 
"give the lie to your words when you say you believe in the 'Brother- 
hood of man because of the Fatherhood of God.' " 

But we would not say that all are so ; for, engraven on the tablets 
of our memories, in letters of shining gold, are the names of true and 
noble-hearted men who, imbued with the true principles of Masonry, 
have, not in canting words, but in practical reality, "joined heart to 
heart and hand to hand around the altar of Masonry with a determi- 
nation that Masonry shall become at some time worthy of her preten- 
sions — no longer a pretender of that which is good, but that she shall 
be an apostle of peace, good-will, charity, and TOLERATION.'' 
From across old briny ocean there comes to us, wafted by the winds 
of "Equality, Liberty, and Fraternity," the names of Morgenstern and 
Glitza, Barthelmes and Findel, Thevenot and Caubet, Kemeny and 
Beigel, Castellazzo and Braband, Santiago and Wholey, Marbach and 
Grimaux, Scaria and Weisman, and a host of others ; from the "land 
of the free and the home of the brave," Minnesota sends a Griswold; 
Iowa, a Peck; Illinois, a Robbins; Massachusetts, a Norton; and 
Ohio, our own "Buckeye State," in solid phalanx, a Bierce, a Carson, 
a Wilmer, a Woodward, a Werner, and a Pike, with Asa H. Battin at 
its head and John D. Caldwell, with "New Day, New Duty,'" as its 
support. 

These and the many others associated with them in the battle for 
the supremacy of the right shall surely have their reward. 

On the other hand are the myriads who would crush us if # they 
could — men whom we meet in the daily mart, before whose tribunals 
we plead for justice, and to whose holy teachings we reverently bow. 
And you ask, is it possible that these upright and honorable men can 
be so unjust as to deny you that which justly belongs to you ? Alas, 
too true, they do ! But they are well skilled in logic, and, if you but 
listen without investigating, they will prove to you that we are but 
cheats and impostors, and consequently their actions just and proper. 
Therefore, we ask you to come with us, and, with the lamp of history, 
examine their reasons for our rejection and see whether they be not 
sophisms. If ye be fair-minded men, we fear not the result. ' ' Truth 
is mighty and will prevail." 

So far as we have been able to ascertain, the following are all the 



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THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



reasons that are urged against our recognition as Free and Accepted 
Masons : 

1. That there is a doubt as to whether Prince Hall and his associ- 
ates were ever made Masons. 

2. That if they were made Masons, it was in an Army Lodge 
without proper authority. 

3. That if they were legally made Masons they" had no right to 
exist as an organized body, as is claimed they did from 1775 to 1787, 
when a warrant, as claimed, was received from the Grand Lodge of 
England. 

4. That no warrant was ever received from England. That what 
purported to be a warrant was a forged, falsified document. 

5. That if received, it was returned to England for correction but 
never again received in America, a mutilated copy being used in its 
stead. 

6. That if a warrant was granted them it was a violation of the 
territorial rights of the "Massachusetts Grand Lodge." 

7. That if they were legally warranted it was only as a subordinate 
Lodge; and that it was an assumption of authority on the part of 
Prince Hall to establish lodges in Philadelphia, and Providence, R. 
I.; and, that the Grand Lodge established in Boston, in 1808, with 
African Lodge, No. 459, and the Lodges in Philadelphia and Provi- 
dence was an irregular body, and as a consequence all its descent is 
illegal and clandestine. 

8. That after the death of Prince Hall, in 1807, the Lodge became 
dormant, and had thereafter no actual existence. 

9. That in 1813, upon the union of the Grand Lodges of England, 
African Lodge, which had been registered as No. 459, and subse- 
quently as 370, was removed from the list and was never after recog- 
nized by the United Grand Lodge of England. 

10. That by the Declaration of Independence made by the African 
Lodge in June, 1827, its existence, if it had any, came to an end. 

11. That by the surrender of its warrant to the National Grand 
Lodge in 1847, it lost its character as a Grand Lodge. 

12. That we were not free-born, and therefore could not be made 
Masons. 

13. That our Lodges and Grand Lodges violate the "American 
Doctrine of Exclusive Territorial Jurisdiction, and therefore have no 
legal right to exist." 

We now propose to take up these objections in the order enume- 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



13 



rated, and shall endeavor to prove that they have no basis for their 
support. 

1. That there is a doubt as to whether Prince Hall and his associ- 
ates were ever made Masons. 

The history of their initiation is as follows : 

In the early part of 1775, when Boston was garrisoned by British 
troops, the Masons connected with General Gage's command held 
lodge meetings at headquarters. Prince Hall, the leading free colored 
•citizen of Boston, was invited to initiation. He considered the mat- 
ter and made up his mind to join. One night, shortly after, he went 
alone to the headquarters of General Gage, was admitted to Masonry 
and raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason. This made him 
the first of African descent initiated into the order in the United 
States, or Colonies at that time. Other free colored citizens of Boston 
were invited to join the Masons, and on March 6, 1775, Cyrus Jon- 
bus. Buesten Slinger, Thomas Sanderson, Prince Tayden, Cato Speain, 
Boston Smith, Peter Best, Fortin Howard, Prince Rees, John Canten, 
Peter Freeman, Benjamin Tiber, Duff Buform, and Richard Tilley 
were initiated at Castle William, Boston Harbor, now Fort Indepen- 
dence, by Master Batt. 

Each of the above candidates paid for entering, fifteen guineas; 
for passing, seven guineas ; for raising, three guineas. 

To these brethren there was revealed, on that memorable day, 
those secrets which Masonic tradition informs us may be traced to the 
building of the Temple, and the essential principle of which has its 
germ in the creation of life. 

The motive of the English Masons in initiating the first fifteen 
colored men into the fraternity in this country has been and is still 
■questioned. It is claimed by many that it was done in order to se- 
cure the co-operation of the negroes in this country with the British. 
If this was their motive, they failed in securing its end, for Prince 
Hall, one of the original fifteen, appears upon the Revolutionary 
rolls of the State of Massuchussetts as one of the earliest enlisted men 
in the service of the country against the British. Again it is claimed 
that these English Masons were influenced by entirely different 
motives. Recognizing the principle, "By the exercise of brotherly 
love we are taught to regard the whole human species as one family," 
which was adopted by the Grand Lodge of England, in 1717, it 
followed as a natural conclusion that these fifteen colored men were 
made Masons in order that this principle might be proved in recogniz- 



14 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



ing a race which was the most degraded and brutally treated of the 
world. To this latter view colored Masons, generally, give their 
assent. 

The records of the initiation of these fifteen colored men is in 
possession of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. 

Following is the testimony of learned Masons and historical stu- 
dents upon this same point: 

M. W. Grand Master Gardner, of Massachusetts, in his address to 
the Grand Lodge in 1870, says: 

"I have no doubt that, on the 6th of March, 1775, the day after 
Warren delivered his celebrated oration in the Old South Church, 
where he was menaced by British troops, Prince Hall and thirteen 
others received the three degrees in a traveling lodge attached to one 
of the British regiments in the army of General Gage, by whom Bos- 
ton was then garrisoned." 

The record of the initiation supplemented with the testimony of 
such an eminent Mason and scholar as William Sewall Gardner, who, 
probably, has given more study and research to this particular question 
than any other white Mason in America, should be sufficient to 
establish the falsity of the first objection, and to remove all doubts 
concerning our origin ; and especially so when it is remembered that 
his historical researches are not for our benefit, but for our destruction. 
He is entitled to the credit, however, of being a true historian, al- 
though his conclusions are not always philosophical. 

We desire, however, to introduce a few more witnesses. 

At the annual session of the Grand Lodge of white Masons of the 
State of Ohio, held in Cleveland, Ohio, 1875, Grand Master Asa H. 
Battin, in his address, gave considerable attention to colored Masonry.. 
This part of his address was referred to a special committee composed 
of the following eminent Masons : Lucius V. Bierce, Past Grand 
Master; Enoch- T. Carson, Past Master; Ferdinand Wilmer, Past 
Master; Louis H. Pike, Past Master; Charles A. Woodward, Grand 
Master, 1876. Among the conclusions which they reported are the 
following : 

" Your committee deem it sufficient to say that they are satisfied 
beyond all question that colored Freemasonry had a legitimate begin- 
ning in this country as much so as any other Freemasonry ; in fact it 
came from the same source. 

"Your committee have the most satisfactory and conclusive evi- 
dence that these colored Freemasons practice the very same rites and 
ceremonies, and have substantially the same esoteric or secret modes 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



J 5 



of recognition as are practiced by ourselves and by the universal family 
of Freemasons throughout the world." 

We think this is ample testimony in relation to the first objec- 
tion; and even if we had no testimony but the subsequent fact that 
they were granted a warrant by the Grand Lodge of England, this, to 
fair minded men, would be proof conclusive that they were indeed 
Free and Accepted Masons. It is not to be presumed that the Grand 
Lodge of England would grant a warrant to a body of men unless she 
were fully satisfied that they were just and legal Masons. 

We now pass to the second objection : 

2. That if they were made Masons, it was in an Army Lodge with- 
out proper authority. 

It is already established that they were made Masons in an Army 
Lodge. Now let us see if an Army Lodge was an unauthorized, un- 
usual, or illegal body of Masons. If not, then the second objection 
falls. 

W. •. Bro. •. Henry J. Parker, in an address on "Army Lodges," 
read before the Worshipful Master's Association in the Masonic Tem- 
ple, Boston. March 7, 1884, makes the following statements: 

"Regimental Lodges appear to have been warranted in the British 
Army early in the last century, and have undoubtedly exerted a large 
influence in spreading the tenets of Freemasonry in all parts of the 
civilized globe. 

"The earliest warrant issued for forming an Army Lodge in this 
country was issued by the St. John's Grand Lodge in 1756, when ' the 
R. W. Master authorized by his charter of deputation the R. W. 
Richard Gridley, Esq., to congregate all Free and Accepted Masons 
in the present expedition against Crown Point, and form them into 
one or more lodges as he should think fit, and to appoint wardens and 
other officers to a Lodge pertaining.' 

"In 1758 a warrant or dispensation was granted to the ' R. W. 
Edward Huntingford to hold a Lodge in his Majesty's Twenty-eighth 
Regiment stationed at Louisburg.' " 

In following W. Bro. Parker, we find that quite a number of 
Lodges .were formed by the Provincial Grand Master. It therefore 
was not an unusual thing for them to exist. Further along we find 
the following : 

"With the arrival of the British troops in Boston Harbor, just be- 
fore the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, came several Regi- 
mental Lodges ; for a time their presence was welcomed by the Lodges 
of the town, but in the controversy which soon began to rage between 
the Ancients and Moderns their presence only added fuel to the flames." 



i6 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



Evidently in one of these Lodges, not formed by the Provincial 
Grand Masters, but having original authority from the Mother Grand 
Lodge in England, was Prince Hall and his associates entered, passed, 
and raised. 

From this same authority and others equally reliable, we learn that 
on the 15th day of February, 1776, a dispensation was granted to Joel 
Clark, Esq., to establish an Army Lodge, appointing him and consti- 
tuting him Master of the American Union Lodge. Would time and 
space permit, it would be interesting to trace this Lodge through its 
vicissitudes and periods of dormancy until it became a constituent part 
of the Grand Lodge of Ohio (white). We may have occasion to refer 
to this Lodge again. What we wish to say now is, that if an Army 
Lodge was good enough, and legal enough, and regular enough, with 
only a dispensation from a Deputy Provincial Grand Master, to form 
a constituent part of the white Grand Lodge of the State of Ohio, then, 
in our opinion, a warranted Army Lodge under the authority of the 
Grand Lodge of England was good enough, and legal enough, and 
regular enough, to make Prince Hall and his fourteen associates free 
and accepted Masons. 

We are told, however, that we have not yet touched the point; that 
the lack of authority lies in this. That in 1773 the Massachusetts 
Grand Lodge placed this limitation upon all Army Lodges : 

"That an Army Lodge should not make a Mason of a Civilian, 
without express authority and permission from the Grand Lodge 
within whose territory it was commorant at the time." 

At this time, 1773, there were two Provincial Grand Lodges exercis- 
ing concurrent authority in the colony of Massachusetts, the "American 
doctrine of Grand Lodge jurisdiction " not yet having been introduced. 
One of these Grand Lodges was the St. John's Grand Lodge, a Pro- 
vincial Grand Lodge under English authority, with R. W. John Rowe, 
Esq., Grand Master of North America, at its head. The other of these 
Grand Lodges was the St. Andrew's, or Massachusetts Grand Lodge, 
a Provincial Grand Lodge under Scotland, with M. W. Joseph War- 
ren, Esq., Grand Master of the continent of North America, at its 
head. It was this Grand Lodge that adopted the "limitation" regu- 
• lation. At this same time there were aslo several Army Lodges located 
in the colony of Massachusetts, some of which held authority from the 
Grand Lodge of Ireland, some from the Grand Lodge of Scotland,, 
and others from the Grand Lodge of England. 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



The point we desire to make is, that each Grand Lodge exercised 
authority over only the Lodges of its constituency, and, therefore, the 
" limitation " enacted by the St. Andrew's, or Massachusetts Grand 
Lodge, could only have force with its own Lodges. If either of the 
Grand Lodges in Massachusetts could have placed a limitation upon 
the Army Lodge, in which Prince Hall and his associates were made 
Masons, which was a regularly warranted Lodge under the direct 
jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England, it would have been St. 
John's Grand Lodge, which was a Provincial Grand Lodge under 
English authority. 

But we contend that neither of these Provincial Grand Lodges had 
any jurisdiction over this Army Lodge, and, therefore, had no right 
to make any limitation as to its reception of candidates. At this time, 
1773, the "American doctrine of exclusive territorial jurisdiction"'" 
not having been thought of, the several Grand Lodges exercising au- 
thority in Massachusetts did so concurrently. This view is agreed in 
by Bro. Chas. Moore, Past Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of 
Massachusetts, and also editor of the Free Mason's Monthly Magazine. 
In his "Memorial Address" to the St. Andrew's Lodge, December 
23, 1869. ne says, in defending the establishment of St. Andrew's 
Lodge, "Massachusetts, like all the other colonies and dependencies 
of the British Crown, was open and free to the joint occupancy of the 
three Grand Lodges of that kingdom; namely, England, Scotland, 
and Ireland." And, as stated in Mackey's Jurisprudence, page 422, 
" The jurisdiction exercised in this condition of Masonry by the differ- 
ent Grand Lodges is not over the territory, but over the Lodge or 
Lodges which each of them has established." Again, according to 
Mackey's Jurisprudence, page 313, " A warrant having been granted 
by the Grand Lodge, the body of Masons thus constituted form at 
once a constituent part of the Grand Lodge. They acquire permanent 
rights which can not be violated by any assumption of authority, nor 
abrogated except in due course of Masonic law." Now this Army 
Lodge, not having been warranted by the St. Andrew's Grand Lodge, 
did not form a constituent part thereof, and was, therefore, not under 
its jurisdiction : consequently, it was an " assumption of authority "" 
on the part of the St. Andrew's Grand Lodge to interfere with the 
right of this Army Lodge holding a charter from the Grand Lodge of 
England. Among these " permanent rights " of a warranted Lodge 
are, " The right to do all the work of ancient craft Masonry,''' and " The 
right to increase its members by the admission of new members,"' provid- 



t8 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



ing the ancient regulations of the order be not violated. This Army 
Lodge, in making Prince Hall and his associates Masons, did what it 
had the right to do, and in doing so violated none of the ancient 
regulations of the order, and for what it did, it was responsible to the 
Grand Lodge of England only. 

The adoption of this resolution of " limitation " in 1773, by the St. 
Andrew's Grand Lodge, was the result of the controversy then exist- 
ing between the "Moderns" and the "Ancients." There were no 
negro Masons then. But in the labored effort to prove that we are 
irregular, this "limitation " resolution has been brought forward to do 
a duty entirely foreign to its original purpose. To such desperation 
have our enemies come. If they would be fair in the application of 
this restriction we would not complain. But they are not. The rec- 
ords of American Union Lodge, an Army Lodge instituted by the St. 
John's Grand Lodge, will show that a number of civilians were made 
Masons therein without permission from any one. And this same 
American Union Lodge is now one of the constituent Lodges of the 
Grand Lodge of Ohio (white), but no one has ever raised a question 
•concerning the regularity of the civilians made Masons therein. Why 
the difference ? Because Prince Hall and his associates were black 
men. However, let the argument be what it may, the Grand Lodge 
of England by subsequently granting a charter to Prince Hall and his 
fourteen associates, made Masons at Castle William March 6, 1775, 
decided the question for all time that they were just and legal and 
regular Masons, and that it possessed ample authority for its acts in 
so doing. We are willing to abide by her judgment. 

3. That if they were legally made Masons, they had no right to 
exist as an organized body, as is claimed they did from 1775 to 1787, 
when a warrant, as is claimed, was received from the Grand Lodge of 
England. 

Whether Prince Hall and his associates had any documentary au- 
thority empowering them to meet as a Lodge of Masons from 1775 to 
1787, we are not fully prepared to say. W T e have seen it stated that 
they had a dispensation, and although this is not sustained by any 
direct proof, yet we are of the opinion that Prince Hall had some 
form of written authority. 

Bro. William Sewall Gardner, of Massachusetts, in his address in 
1870, in commenting on this point in order to prove that no dispen- 
sation was held by these brethren, says : 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



!9 



"Dispensations for Lodges, as preliminary to granting a charter, 
were not made use of in those days. But more than all there was no 
authorized power here to grant such dispensation save Provincial Grand 
Masters Rowe and Warren. A traveling lodge, although attached to 
a British regiment, could not authorize these persons to assemble as a 
Lodge. This claim," that a dispensation existed, "is nowhere stated 
directly, and contains so little foundation that it is not worth consid- 
ering." 

Well, let us consider Bro. Gardner's statement. If, as Bro. Gard- 
ner states, "dispensations were not made use of in those days, as pre- 
liminary to granting charters," then Prince Hall and his associates 
needed none. They had the same right to assemble as a Lodge until 
they received their charter, as any body of white Masons had. Now 
then, if we can find any body of white Masons that assembled as a 
Lodge without any documentary authority to do so, and which has 
subsequently been received and acknowledged as a just and legal 
Lodge of Masons, then must all objection to African Lodge, No. 459, 
on these grounds fall. We think we know of one such body. Give 
us your attention. We will cite two instances which will show a simi- 
lar condition of circumstances as is said to have existed in the case of 
Prince Hall and his associates. First, we will call Saint John's Lodge, 
Boston, said to have been founded July 30, 1733, by Henry Price, 
Provincial Grand Master of Massachusetts. Concerning this Lodge, 
Bro. Joseph Robbins, of Illinois, in his review of Massachusetts in 
187 1, says : 

"St. John's Lodge, organized in 1733, was an unauthorized and 
irregular body until legalized in 1737, when Tomlinson received his 
deputation from the Grand Master of England." 

Bro. James William Hughan, Masonic Historiographer, of Eng- 
land, confirms this when he says, "Boston Lodge is the first that we 
can find mentioned in any list of Lodges under the Grand Lodge of 
England, and that in the list of 1738." [For Com. Grand Lodge of 
Ohio (white), 1874, p. 15.] 

The original deputation by which authority it is claimed the first 
Lodge of white Masons was constituted can not be found, and it is not 
known, so far as records show, that Henry Price was deputized a Pro- 
vincial Grand Master in 1733. ^ n f act > ne * s stigmatized by Bro. 
Norton, of Massachusetts, who is known as a careful historical inves- 
tigator, as a "swindler and impostor." This is sustained by the 
following correspondence : 
2 



20 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



"In 1768, November 29th, Thomas French, Grand Secretary at 
London, wrote to Henry -Price, ' I can't account for it why in the list 
of Provincial Grand Masters the name of Price does not appear.' He 
chides him for his lack of correspondence, and says, ' that the earliest 
record on his book for that part of America is 1736, of the deputation of 
Robert Tomlinson. — \New Day, New Duty, p 35, from G. Sec. 
Dove.] 

From Bro. John Dove's history of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, 
page 61, we find the following relation to the introduction of Masonry 
in Massachusetts: 

"They commenced their organization by the interposition of Pro- 
vincial Grand Masters, and at once and immediately by patent [not to 
be found] from the Grand Lodge of England, granted to R. W. 
Henry Price, in 1733, opened a Lodge at Boston called the St. John's 
Grand Lodge, on the 30th of July; though their first regulaily instal- 
led and invested Grand Master was R. VV. Robert Tomlinson, in 
April, 1737." 

This seems sufficient to prove that Henry Price acted without any 
authority. 

From the Grand Lodge proceedings of Massachusetts, 1870, p. 
429, we extract the following: 

"St. John's Lodge, Boston — This was the first Lodge in Boston; 
established by Henry Price, Provincial Grand Master, July 30th, 1733. 
No written charter was given until one was granted by Provincial 
Grand Master Rowe." 

Now Rowe was not appointed Provincial Grand Master until 1768. 
Even admitting that the acts of Henry Price were legal and with 
proper authority, which, we believe, we have proven were not, the 
fact remains that from 1733 to 1768 — a period of thirty-five years — 
St. John's Lodge, of Boston, existed without a warrant. Now, if St. 
John's Lodge could exist from 1733 to 1738 without any legal author- 
ity, and from 1738 to at least 1768, if not further, without a charter, 
then may not African Lodge with equal grace and legality have 
existed from 1775 to J 7^7 without a charter? and especially so, when 
in 1787 the Grand Lodge of England legalized its existence by grant- 
ing it a charter direct from the "fountain-head," while Boston Lodge 
received its charter from a Provincial Grand Master only ? We think 
so. 

Our second witness is St. Andrew's Lodge, which formed the basis 
of the present Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and whose Centennial 
was celebrated in Boston, in 1856, and again in 1869. This is such a 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



2 I 



bad case of irregularity, that we wonder how any intelligent Mason 
can permit himself to charge us with irregularity, without calling to 
his cheek the blush of shame. But to the facts which we cull from 
several sources, chief of which are the following : — Bro. Hamilton 
Willis' oration, delivered before St. Andrew's Lodge, November 30th,. 
1856; Bro. C. W. Moore's oration, delivered December 23, 1869; 
and Brother Gardner's address, delivered December 27, 1869. In 
1738, owing to differences among the Masons of Great Britain, a large 
body of Masons seceded from the Grand Lodge of England, and soon 
after established a rival Grand Body. The English Grand Lodge, in 
order to distinguish its adherents from the seceders introduced a test,, 
which act the seceders denounced as an innovation and immediately 
styled the Old Grand Lodge as 11 Moderns," and themselves as " An- 
cients." As a consequence, the English-speaking craft was divided 
into two factions, which was not confined alone to Great Britain, but 
extended to its colonies. The records show that in 1752 there were 
residing in Boston a number of Masons who did not recognize the 
authority of the Grand Lodge of England, neither did they yield obe- 
dience to the St. John's Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. They termed 
themselves "Ancients," and proceeded to form a Lodge in accordance 
with immemorial usage prior to 1721. This action was called into ques- 
tion by St. John's Grand Lodge, and denounced as being irregular. 
The immediate cause of this organization was the fact that the par- 
ticipants therein had previously made efforts to visit the St. John's 
Grand Lodge, but as they were known as "Ancients," and as the 
Grand Lodge of England, from which St. John's derived its au- 
thority, had already declared these "Ancients" as being " irregular fr 
and " clandestine," they were refused admittance. Smarting under 
this rebuff, without the authority of either a military Lodge, a local 
Lodge, a dispensation, or a warrant, but only upon the authority of 
" immemorial usage" prior to 172 1, they proceeded to establish a Lodge 
with a membership composed of one - ' James Logan, and a number 
of Masons, many of whom had been made in foreign countries." 
There is no record to show in what Lodges, when, or where they tuere 
made Masons. One authority, Brother Gardner, of Massachusetts, 
says: " They were made Masons after the ancient system in some 
irregular way." In 1754 they forwarded a petition to the Grand Lodge 
of Scotland for a charter. It received the approval of the Committee 
in 1756, but was not made out for four years thereafter. It was re- 
ceived in Boston, September 4th, 1760. 



.2 2 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



Let us see what was done in the meantime by this Lodge formed 

% i in accordance with immemorial usage : " 

" George Bray was initiated in 1753, whose name was afterwards 
inserted in the charter. On the 3d of April, 1758, four were 'raised,' 
and several — at least six — were made Masons, and still their charter 
did not reach Boston." 

Now we ask all unprejudiced minds to compare the Prince Hall 
organization from 1775 to 1787 with St. Andrew's organization from 
1752 to 1760. The Prince Hall organization could at least trace the 
Masonic origin of its members, establish their legality, and present 
some show of authority ; furthermore, it has never been charged, or 
even hinted at, that the Prince Hall organization attempted to do any 
Masonic work during this period. The most that has been said is that 
they met together in a social way to devise plans for their future bene- 
fit, which culminated in their asking and receiving a charter from the 
•Grand Lodge of England. Was this the case with the St. Andrew's 
Lodge ? No. From 1752 to 1760, they met in Lodge capacity with- 
out any authority, and entered, passed, and raised Masons — as clear a 
case of illegality and irregularity as was ever presented to the Masonic 
world. Yet this Lodge furnished to the Massachusetts Grand Lodge 
Its first Provincial Grand Master, Bro. Joseph Warren, of Bunker 
Hill fame. Yet this Lodge — St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 82, Scotch 
Registry — was the chief corner stone of the Massachusetts Grand 
Lodge which to-day charges African Lodge, No. 459 with irregularity. 
And yet again, in 1856 and 1869, the white Masons of Massachusetts, 
clad in holiday array, celebrated two Centennials — the first, commem- 
orative of the granting of a warrant to a body of men, known 
throughout the land as illegal and irregular; the second, commemora- 
tive of the organization of a Grand Lodge whose chief constituent 
Lodge was this same illegal and irregular body. For shame, for 
shame, that men would be so blind to truth and justice as to celebrate 
that which they know to have been illegal and spurious, and spurn 
that which they know is legal and pure, because the skin of one is 
white while that of the other is black ! 

These St. Andrew's Masons were unable to obtain any recognition 
from the St. John's Grand Lodge, although they made frequent appli- 
cations and piteously begged for the same. Their irregularity was too 
well established, although, in our opinion, St. John's Grand Lodge 
was very little better, if any. In order that you may know how they 
{St. Andrew's) were regarded at that time, we quote from the " me- 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



morial address " of Bro. C. W. Moore, of Massachusetts, on the occa- 
sion of the Centennial of Massachusetts Grand Lodge, 1869 : 

" 1776, 27th of January, St. John's Lodge rebuffed St. Andrew's, 
which made a formal tender to receive officers and members at their 
lodge-room whenever it may be agreeable to them, and that there may 
be 1 a happy coalition.' 

' ' The rebuff was in four votes : 

1 1. Claiming that the nine persons (naming them) who were the 
only ones named as Masons in the charter to Lodge of St. Andrew's, 
were not at the date of their application for it, or at the date of Consti- 
tution, Free and Accepted Masons. — [Italics ours.] 

' 2. That applying as such was an imposition on the Grand Lodge 
of Scotland. 

' 3. That they are irregular Masons, and all persons who have since 
been added to them in their fraternity. [This included Dr. Joseph. 
Warren, made in the Scotch Lodge, 1761.] 

' 4. That, as members of such irregular Lodge, some attempting" 
to visit their regular Lodges had been refused this liberty, and that by 
vote of the Grand Lodge visit of their members to said irregular Lodge 
has been prohioited. 

' Therefore, this answer is given to written request for us to visit 
your Lodge, that the Free and Accepted Masons under this jurisdic- 
tion can not visit said fraternity.' 

" These were sent to St. Andrew's, also to Grand Lodge, England.' 1 ' 

This is the verdict rendered against St. Andrew's Lodge by the 
Masons who were on the ground at the time of its organization. It is 
not of record that any such verdict was ever rendered against the 
Prince Hall Masons, excepting that rendered by the white Masons of 
America, within the last three or four decades, and that upon such sl 
shallow basis that under the pressure of historical investigation it has 
crumbled to dust. The hope of the white American Mason for our 
continued rejection hangs upon one slender thread, "exclusive terri- 
torial jurisdiction," and if he will be convinced by sound logic,, he- 
must even see that disappear. 

The white Masonic historians, knowing of the many irregularities 
of their early organization, seek many ways to find excuses and make 
apologies for them. In this connection Bro. C. W. Moore apologizes 
for the irregularity of St. Andrew's Lodge as follows : 

" The validity of the charter of the Lodge and the lawful making 
of the petitioners for it were matters in which the Grand Lodge [St. 
John's] had ?io control or right to interfere. Both subjects had passed be- 
yond its reach. Whatever may have been irregular in the proceedings 
of the Lodge in the earlier days of its organization had been Masonic- 



24 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



ally regularized and confirmed by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, under 
whose authority it existed, and to which body it was alone amenable. 
If the St. John's Grand Lodge had any grievances to complain of, it 
was to that body its complaints should have been preferred." 

These are true words and we fully agree with Bro. Moore, but if 
he had only said them, as he could and ought have done in behalf of 
the early organization of African Lodge, No. 459, we could then have 
said they have the ring of true nobility ; but when he says them in 
behalf of his own Grand Lodge in which he has a personal interest, 
and at the same time stands with his foot upon the neck of African 
Lodge, No. 459, we can only say they are extremely selfish. Yet 
they are true, nevertheless, and the day must come when truth, though 
crushed to earth, will rise again. 

We believe our two witnesses, the St. John's Lodge, of Boston, 
English Registry, and the St. Andrew's Lodge, of Boston, Scotch 
Registry, have fully proven our proposition, which is, if, according to 
Bro. Gardner, dispensations were not made use of in the early days as 
preliminary to granting charters, that if we can find any body of white 
Masons that assembled as a Lodge without any documentary author- 
ity to do so, and which has subsequently been received and acknowl- 
edged as a just and legal Lodge of Masons, then must all objection to 
African Lodge, No. 459, on these grounds fall. That St. John's and 
St. Andrew's Lodges came under these conditions is fully established. 
Therefore, African Lodge, No. 459, is entitled to the same recogni- 
tion. 

We digress one moment to say that we think Bro. Gardner is mis- 
taken when he says, "dispensations for Lodges, as preliminary to 
granting a charter, were not made use of in those days." We know 
of one Lodge that never had a charter until it became a part of the 
Grand Lodge of Ohio, and then not for some time after its connection 
therewith. We refer to American Union Lodge. Here is the record : 

"The meetings of the Grand Lodge having been suspended, appli- 
cation was made to the. Hon. John Rowe, Grand Master, for a dispen- 
sation, which he was pleased to grant to Joel Clark, Esq. , one of the 
petitioners, appointing and constituting him Master of the American 
Union Lodge," etc., etc. 

The dispensation is dated February 15, 1776, and is signed by the 
Deputy Grand Master and the Junior Grand Warden only. 

Were it necessary we could cite other examples ; but more of this 
further on. 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



25 



We believe that Prince Hali had some form of written authority 
certifying to the fact that he and his associates were legally made 
Masons, and empowering them to meet and act as such. Prince Hall 
being a leader among his people, as is attested by the many public 
addresses made by him, and the many memorials addressed to the 
Legislative bodies of that period to which his signature was always 
attached, and knowing the value of documentary evidence, the pre- 
sumption is, that he secured from the Army Lodge in which he was 
made some documentary proof of the same, and no doubt this ac- 
companied their petition for a charter. But Grand Master Gardner 
says, "but more than all, there was no authorized power here to grant 
such dispensations, save Provincial Grand Masters Rowe aud Warren. 
A traveling Lodge, though attached to a British regiment, could not 
authorize these persons to assemble as a Lodge. 7 ' 

We agree with Bro. Gardner this far : That such Lodges as were 
subordinate to the Provincial Grand Lodges over which Grand Mas- 
ters Rowe and Warren had authority could exist legally only by virtue 
of dispensations granted by them, or by warrants subsequently granted 
by the mother Grand Lodge from which the Provincial Grand Masters 
derived their authority. I think historical research will prove that 
military or traveling Lodges frequently granted authority to Masons to 
meet in the capacity of Lodges. Let us see. Bro. Jacob Norton, of 
Massachusetts, in his "Additional Facts and Suggestions concerning 
the Ancients," says as follows: 

" In my reply to Mackey on the colored question, I expressed my 
belief that a notion prevailed in the last century that a Lodge had a 
right to grant a dispensation for the formation of a new Lodge; that 
Prince Hall, no doubt, received such a dispensation from the Army 
Lodge, and therefore he thought it proper to grant similar documents 
to the colored brethren m Philadelphia and in Providence, R. I. Now 
in Bro. Brennan's ' History of Freemasonry in British America,' I 
found two letters copied from the originals preserved in the archives 
at Halifax. The first dated November 7, 1783 (St. Ann's, New 
Brunswick). An army officer, whose regiment was disbanded, but 
who was still in possession of an Irish Army charter, asked Bro. J. 
Peters, Secretary of a Lodge at Halifax, whether he could not open a 
Lodge at St. Ann's under the said army charter, to which he received 
the following reply : 

" ' It seems to be the opinion here that no objection can be made 
to your meeting and conversing under your old warrant, but that it 
will not be right, as it was granted for another province and to a regi- 
ment which is now disbanded, to proceed to making, etc., under it. 
We have not yet a Provincial Grand warrant here, but one is applied 



26 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



for, and by a late account from a brother in England we have reason 
to expect it daily. When it arrives you will have regulations sent to 
you. Our worthy Bro. George Pyke, Esq., at present Master of St. 
John's Lodge, is the Provincial Grand Master elect. In the mean- 
time I am ordered to acquaint you that you may at any tune have from 
the Lodges here a dispensation which will answer all the ends of a war- 
rant, ' etc. 

"This is very significant. It shows that our notions of Masonic 
jurisprudence differ from the notions of the last century. Nay, more; 
they even then differed from each other, for, while Prince Hall 's dis- 
pensation [this would indicate that there is evidence somewhere that 
Prince Hall had a dispensation] restricted the Lodge from taking new 
members before they received a regular warrant, the then Halifax 
brethren believed that the dispensation granted by their Lodges would 
answer all ends of a wairant, which means that they could initiate, 
pass, and raise under it." 

This seems to be strong evidence that it was customary for Lodges 
to grant dispensations. However, we offer another quotation from 
Bro. John Dove's History of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, page 60 : 

"We have also evidence from the records of Falmouth Lodge, in 
Stafford County, that in the absence of a warrant from any Grand 
Lodge, the competent number of Master Masons being met and agreed, 
acted under this immemorial usage, only asking the nearest Lodge in 
writing, and which document operated as their warrant, as will be seen 
by the records of Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4, in granting this privi- 
lege to the Masons in Falmouth. We are also justified in inferring 
that the military traveling Lodges may have in many instances imparted 
the degrees of Masonry to persons of respectability residing at or near 
their place of encampment, and on leaving gave them a warrant to 
confer these degrees on others in lieu of a certificate of enrollment." 

We do not wish to pursue this farther as we believe we have proven 
to the full satisfaction of any unprejudiced person, that Prince Hall 
and his associates had a jegal right to exist as an organized body from 
1775 to 1787, and if we have not, we then rely upon the legalizing 
power of the Grand Lodge of England, which issued to him and his 
associates a charter constituting them into a just and legal Lodge of 
Free and Accepted Masons. 

4. That no warrant was ever received from England; that what 
•purported to be one was a forged, falsified document. \ 

This objection has been so frequently refuted that it is scarcely 
worth while to take time in proving its falsity. Yet, that our argu- 
ment may be complete we present the proof. 

Prince Hall and his associates, desiring to become a part of the 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



27 



Masonic family of the State in which they resided, made application 
to the Massachusetts Grand Lodge for a warrant of constitution. 
How was their request treated ? Did the progeny of the May Flower 
Pilgrims, who came to America to escape oppression, extend to them 
the fraternal hand ? Did they say come with us and be of us, we 
whose tenets are brotherly love, relief, and truth ; we whose creed is- 
the "fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man;" we who have 
shed our blood, ' ' pledged our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honors" in support of the declaration, "All men are created equal ? " 
No ! they cast them off; they rejected them as being unfit for the build- 
ing; they said we know ye not, ye can not enter in at our gates. 
This is no rhetorical flight. It is a fact, and we cite the New York 
Dispatch as evidence. This paper was edited by Past Grand Master 
Holmes, and also by Past Grand Master Simons, of New York, who 
is especially known for his unfavorable disposition toward the colored 
people. The issue of March 1, 1868, says: 

" In the beginning of the eighties of last century, a number of col- 
ored people of Boston, Massachusetts, addressed the Grand Lodge of 
this city (Boston), requiring a dispensation to do open and work a 
Lodge. This request was refused, .upon which the petitioners addressed 
the Grand Lodge of England, and their request was complied with. " 

Meeting with the refusal did not discourage Prince Hall, but with 
devotion to that valuable Masonic lesson, "Time, patience, and per- 
severance will accomplish a!l things," he approached the fountain 
head of Masonic authority — the Grand Lodge of England — and in the 
following language prayed for a warrant: " I would inform you that 
this Lodge hath been founded almost eight years. We have had no- 
opportunity to apply for a warrant before now, though we have been 
importuned to send to France for one, yet we thought it best to send 
to the fountain head from whence we received the light for a warrant." 
The date of this letter is March 7, 1784. 

On the 29th day of September, 1784, the Grand Lodge for the 
Society of Free and Accepted Masons, whose Grand East is in Lon- 
don, England, granted this prayer by issuing to these fifteen black 
men who had been spurned by the Massachusetts Grand Lodge the 
following 



28 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



WARRANT OF CONSTITUTION: 

TO ALL AND EVERY: 

Our right worshipful atid loving brethren : — We, Thomas Howard, Earl 
of Effingham, Lord Howard, etc., Acting Grand Master, under 
the authority of his Royal Highness, Henry Frederick, Duke of 
Cumberland, etc., Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honor- 
able Society of Free and Accepted Ancient Masons, send greeting : 

Know ye that we, at the humble petition of our Right Trusty and 
well beloved brethren, Prince Hall, Boston Smith, Thomas Sanderson, 
and several other brethren residing in Boston, New England, in North 
America, do hereby constitute the said brethren into a regular Lodge 
of Free and Accepted Masons, under the title or denomination of the 
African Lodge, to be opened in Boston, aforesaid, and do further, at 
their said petition and of the great trust and confidence reposed in 
€very of the said above-named brethren, hereby appoint the said 
Prince Hall to be Master; Boston Smith, Senior Warden; and Thomas 
Sanderson, Junior Warden, for opening the said Lodge, and for such fur- 
ther time only as shall be thought by the brethren thereof, it being our 
will that this, our appointment of the above officers, shall in no wise 
affect any future election of officers of said Lodge, but that such election 
shall be regulated, agreeable to such By-laws of the said Lodge as 
shall be consistent with the Grand Laws of the society, contained in 
the Book of Constitutions; and we hereby will, and require of you, 
the said Prince Hall, to take special care that all and every, the said 
brethren, are to have been regularly made Masons, and that they do 
observe, perform, and keep all the rules and orders contained in the 
Book of Constitutions; and, further, that you do from time to time 
cause to be entered, in a book kept for that purpose, an account of 
your proceedings in the Lodge, together with all such Rules, Orders, 
and Regulations as shall be made for the good government of the same, 
that in no wise you omit once in every year to send to us, or our 
successors, Grand Masters, or Rowland Holt, Esq., our Deputy Grand 
Master, for the time being, an account of your said proceeding, and 
copies of all such Rules, Orders, and Regulations as shall be made as 
aforesaid, together with the list of the members of the Lodge, and 
such sum of money as may suit the circumstances of the Lodge, and 
reasonably be expected toward the Grand Charity. 

Moreover, we will, and require of you, the said Prince Hall, as 
soon as conveniently may be, to send an account in writing of what 
may be done by virtue of these presents. 

, r-^ — \ ^ Given at London, under our hand and seal of Masonry, 

\ Seal. I this 29th day of September, A. L. 5784, A. D. 1784, 

<• — y — * > by the Grand Master's command. 

R. Holt, Deputy Grand Master. 
Attest : William White, Grand Secretary. 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



2 9 



RECEIPT OF PAYMENT. 

Received, 28th of February, 1787, of Captain James Scott, five 
pounds, fifteen shillings, sixpence, being the fees on the Warrant of 
Constitution for the African Lodge at Boston. 

For the Grand Lodge of the Society of Free and Accepted Masons, 
^£5, 15s., 6d. William White, Grand Secretary. 

In addition to the receipt of payment for the Warrant, we offer, as 
further confirmation, the following extract from a letter written by 
Bro. John Hervey, Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of 
England, to Charles W. Moore, Esq. , Deputy Grand Master Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts : 

"Freemasons' Hall, London, W. C, nth Nov., 1868. 
"Dear Sir and R. W. Brother: — I am in receipt of your favor 
of the 29th ult., making enquiries respecting a Warrant granted in 
1784, to a certain ' Prince Hall.' I have caused a most diligent search 
to be made in our books here, and the only reference that I can find is 
in the calendar for 1785, when a Lodge appears to have been working 
under the English Constitution, at Boston, under the No. 459, and 
called the 'African Lodge.' It afterwards became 370." 

Further evidence is shown in the following letter written May 5th, 
1870, by Brother Hervey, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of 
England, to Brother Gardner, Grand Master of Massachusetts: 

"M. W. Sir and Brother: — ... As you are already 
aware, the Warrant for the African Lodge was granted in 1784, and 
was numbered 459 ; but the fee for the Warrant does not appear in 
our Grand Lodge accounts until the 4th of April, 1787. The follow- 
ing remittances were received for the Charity Fund from the African 
Lodge, viz : 

November 25, 1789 . . , £2 2s. nd. 

April 18, 1792 11 o 

November 27, 1793 I 5 6 

November 22, 1797 15 o 

"In 1793 i ts number was altered to 370, and continued so num- 
bered in our calendar until 181 2, when, on the re-numbering conse- 
quent on the union of the two Grand Lodges, the African Lodge, was 
ommitted. 

" I send you enclosed a verbatim copy of all the documents I can 
discover relating to the Lodge." — [Grand Lodge Proc. , Mass., 1870, 

P- 47-] 

The "documents" above referred to consist partly of correspon- 
dence between Prince Hall and William White, Esq. , Grand Secretary 
of the Grand Lodge of England, in which Prince Hall informs the 
Grand Secretary of work done in African Lodge, of money sent for 



3° 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



the Charity Fund, of the condition of the craft, etc., etc. One of 
these letters, written in answer to inquiries made concerning other 
Lodges (white) in New England from which no tidings had been re- 
ceived for a long time, I give in full : 

" August 20, 1792. 

"Worshipful Brother: — I received yours of the 20th of August 
last, with the printed accounts of the state of the Grand Lodge, and 
am happy to see the flourishing state of the society, and am very sorry 
to see so many Lodges whose behavior hath been such as to put the 
Grand Lodge to so disagreeable a task as to erase them from so 
honorable a society [probably some of the American Lodges]. I have 
made inquiry about the Lodges you wrote me about. The Lodge No. 
42, which used to meet at the Royal Exchange and kept at the As- 
sembly House at the head of Orange Tree Lane, has kept a regular 
Lodge, and was joined last year by one or two more Lodges. Their 
present Grand Master is John Cutler, chosen last year, and walked to 
Trinity Church, where a sermon was delivered by the Rev. Walter, 
U. D., June 25th. The Lodge No. 88 hath joined the above Lodge 
ever since the death of their Grand Master, Henry Price, Esq., for 
he is long since dead — a worthy Mason. 

"As for the Marble Head Lodge, No. 91, I can not get any infor- 
mation of it whether it keeps or not, but I believe they don't, for if 
they did I should have heard from her. As for the Lodge No. 93, in 
New Haven, Conn., I hear they keep a regular Lodge, and I have 
reason to believe it. The Lodge No. 142 do keep the same, as some 
of them hath visited our Lodge, and heard it from their own mouths. I 
am happy you approve the sermon. I have sent you a charge I de- 
livered at Charlestown, on the 25th of June last. I have sent one to 
your Royal Grand Master, His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, 
and another to his deputy, and three for the Grand Lodge, which I 
hope will meet your approval. 

"(Signed.) PRINCE HALL." 

As further evidence we submit the following clipping from " Massa- 
chussets Centinal," printed at Boston, and which we find in Grand 
Lodge Proceedings of Massachussets, 1870. It is from the issue of 
May 2, 1787, and is in the nature of an official communication: 

"African Lodge, Boston, May 2, 1787. 
"By Captain Scott, from London, came the charter, etc., which 
his Royal Highness, the Duke of Cumberland, and the Grand Lodge 
have been graciously pleased to grant to the African Lodge in Boston. 
As the brethren have a desire to acknowledge all favors shown them, J 
they, in this public manner, return particular thanks to a certain num- 
ber of the fraternity, who offered the so generous reward in this paper 
some time since, for the charter supposed to be lost, and to assure 
him, though they doubt of his friendship, that he has made them many 
good friends. 

"(Signed.) PRINCE HALL." 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



3 1 



In 1869 the colored Masons of Massachusetts presented a petition 
to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts (white) praying for recognition. 
A committee was appointed on the same, and a part of their report 
was as follows: "Your committee have examined this charter [the 
original charter from England], and believe it to be authentic." [See 
Grand Lodge Proceedings, Massachusetts, 1869.] 

It seems to us that the foregoing documentary evidence is sufficient 
to convince any one, let him be as prejudiced as he may, that a 
warrant was granted in 1784 to Prince Hall and his associates ; that 
it was received in this country in 1787 ; that it was not a forged, falsi- 
fied document ; that it was not returned to England, but was as late 
as 1869 seen in this country by reputable witnesses. The fact that 
Prince Hall was in correspondence with the Grand Secretary of Eng- 
land, and was inquired of concerning the white Lodges in this country, 
and the further fact that moneys were sent by Prince Hall to the 
charity fund, in accordance with the requirements of the charter, at 
various times from 1789 to 1797, and were receipted for and acknowl- 
edged by the Grand Secretary of England, and the still further fact 
that when the Lodges on the English registry were renumbered in 1793 
African Lodge was also renumbered, is conclusive proof that African 
Lodge was known to the Grand Lodge of England as a legal and reg- 
ular Lodge in working order, at least as late as 1797. That is more, 
very much more, than can be said of many white Lodges that formed 
a constituent part of some of the Grand Lodges that are loudest in 
their charges of dormancy and consequent loss of life against us. 

We pass to the fifth objection : 

5. That if received it was returned to England for correction, but 
never again received in America, a mutilated copy being used in its 
stead. 

That it was received we think is proved; that it was returned to 
England for correction there is not the slightest evidence. The only 
fact that might be so construed is a letter, which may be found in the 
proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for 1870, addressed 
' ' To the Right Worshipful, the Grand Master Wardens, and members of 
the Grand Lodge of England,' 1 ' 1 and dated at Boston, January 5, 1824, 
"praying that, in addition to the warrant granted to Prince Hall and 
his associates in 1784, under which they could confer but three degrees, 
a new warrant be granted to the petitioners authorizing them to confer 
seven degrees." The petitioners were sufficiently careful, as subse- 
quent events have shown, to retain the original warrant. Even had 



3 2 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



they sent it, and never again received it, they would have lost nothing; 
but a valuable relic; for long before this time, 1824, legal Grand 
Lodges had been established, with as full power and authority to grant 
warrants and institute new Lodges as any white Grand Lodge that had 
been established in America. 

With regard to a mutilated copy being used in its stead we have to 
say, that Bro. C. W. Moore, of Massachusetts, who persisted for many 
years in making this statement, did, in 1869, report to the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts that the warrant was an authentic document- 
However, we believe that, if only a " mutilated copy" had been used, 
it would have been as regular and as legal for African Lodge, No. 
459 to use it as for any of the white Lodges under Massachusetts Grand 
Lodge to do similarly. You ask did any of them do so? We say, yes. 
Here is the record, which you will find in proceedings of Massachu- 
setts, 1870: 

"St. John's Lodge, first Lodge in Boston; no written charter 
until one was granted by Provincial Grand Master Rowe. This char- 
ter was burnt in Winthrop House fire. A copy of the charter was 
furnished by the Grand Officers in 1864, which copy bears date of 
February 7, 1783. Much doubt exists as to the accuracy of this copy." 

We deem this one example sufficient to sustain our statement ; 
others may be found in the record. 

6. That, if a warrant, were granted them, it was in violation of the 
territorial rights of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge. 

Somewhere in the foregoing may be found the proof that a warrant 
was granted ; therefore, it is not necessary to reiterate. 

With regard to the violation of the territorial rights of the Massa- 
chusetts Grand Lodge, we will say in brief that the Massachusetts 
Grand Lodge had no territorrial rights to violate when the Grand 
Lodge of England granted warrant No. 459 to African Lodge. We 
reserve the discussion of this point until we reach the " thirteenth 
objection." 

7. That if they were legally warranted it was only as a subordinate 
Lodge, and that it was an assumption of authority on the part of Prince 
Hall to establish Lodges in Philadelphia and Providence, Rhode 
Island; and that the Grand Lodge established in Boston, in 1808, with 
African Lodge, No. 459, and the Lodges in Philadelphia and Provi- 
dence was an irregular body, and as a consequence all its descent is 
illegal and clandestine. 

That they were legally warranted is fully established, and we are 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



33 



willing to admit that it was as a subordinate Lodge. But even this 
does not affect the subsequent establishment of Lodges in Philadelphia 
and Providence, Rhode Island. In the preceding we quoted from 
Bro. Jacob Norton, and from Bro. Dove, Grand Secretary of Virginia, 
to show that it was a matter of frequent occurence for a subordinate 
Lodge, or a military traveling Lodge to issue authority to Masons to 
assemble as a Lodge and do work therein. Prince Hall was evidently 
cognizant of these customs, and believing himself to have full power 
to do so, he assembled the brethren in Philadelphia and Providence, 
and organized them into Lodges. And while we have no documen- 
tary evidence that Prince Hall was a deputized Provincial Grand 
Master, yet we have strong presumptive evidence that he was so 
recognized by the English authorities. This is inferred from the title 
of Right Worshipful, by which he was addressed by the Grand Secre- 
tary of England, and also from the fact that special inquiry was made 
of him concerning the Lodges here, indicating that a more than ordin- 
ary trust was reposed in him. If, however, Prince Hall had none of 
the powers of a Provincial Grand Master, because of the absence of 
any documentary proof of the same, then must the same be said of 
Henry Price, the first Provincial Grand Master (white) of Massachu- 
setts, for there is no record of his appointment as such in 1733. The 
earliest appointment shown by the records of the Grand Lodge of 
England is for Robert Tomlinson in 1736. Now, if the acts of Henry 
Price, without a deputation, were regular, so then were those of Prince 
Hall. < Therefore the Grand Lodge, established in 1808 with African 
Lodge, No. 459, and the Lodges at Philadelphia and Providence, was 
as much a legal Grand Lodge as the one established by Henry Price 
and known as St. John's Grand Lodge. 

To strengthen this point we desire now to give the details of the 
organization of two or three white Grand Lodges, some of whom have 
celebrated their centennials, and compare them with the African 
Grand Lodge established in 1808. 

According to general acceptation, not sustained by records, Henry 
Price received from the Grand Master of England, in 1733, a deputa- 
tion as Provincial Grand Master of North America. He appointed 
several brethren as Provincial Grand Officers, and on July 30, 1733, 
organized the St John's Grand Lodge. Let us see how this Grand 
Lodge was organized. First, we quote from Mackey's Jurisprudence 
several paragraphs relating to the " Nature of a Grand Lodge " of the 
form introduced in 1 7 1 7, and followed generally from that time until 
the present : 



34 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



" Lodges are the aggregations of Masons as individuals in their 
primary capacity. Grand Lodges are the aggregations of subordinate 
Lodges in their representative capacity." (P. 406.) 

" Lenning defines a Grand Lodge to be the 'dogmatic and admin- 
istrative authority of several particular Lodges of a country or pro- 
vince which is usually composed of the Grand Officers and of the 
Presiding Officers of these particular Lodges.' " (P. 407.) 

Concerning the organization of a Grand Lodge, Mackey says, on 
page 423, Masonic Jurisprudence : " In the first place, it is essential 
that not less than three Lodges shall unite in fanning a Grand Lodge." 

Now when Henry Price organized the St. John's Grand Lodge, of 
Massachusetts, he not only did not have three Lodges, but he did not 
have one Lodge. Upon receiving his deputation, he appointed, from 
among the brethren residing in Boston, several Provincial Grand Offi- 
cers, and, on the next day, at the request of a number of brethren, he 
constituted them into a Lodge, known as St. John's Lodge. No other 
Lodge was instituted in Massachusetts under this authority until Feb- 
ruary 15, 1750. The third Lodge in Massachusetts was established 
March 17, 1750. Thus we see that the requisite number of Lodges — 
three — to organize a Grand Lodge had not been instituted until seven- 
teen years after Henry Price's illegal erection of the St. John's Grand 
Lodge, first, and St. John's Subordinate Lodge, second. No subsequent 
reorganization of this Grand Lodge was ever made, but it went on 
granting charters until it had granted warrants to nearly forty Lodges 
located in the different colonies. It suspended its meetings in 1775, 
the last meeting being held February 27, 1775. The next meeting 
held was in August, 1787, for the purpose of attending the funeral of 
Grand Master Rowe ; it met again in 1790, and elected officers, none 
higher than Senior Grand Warden; it also met again in 1792 to make 
arrangements to unite with the St. Andrew's Grand Lodge, one of its 
acts being to elect a Grand Master, there not having been any since 
the death of Grand Master Rowe, in 1787. Its existence terminated 
March 5, 1792, at which time it united with the St. Andrew's Grand 
Lodge to form the present Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. Your at- 
tention is called to the fact that the new Grand Lodge, formed in 1792, 
adopted the ritual as worked by the St. John's Grand Lodge, and also 
elected for their Grand Master the same brother chosen by the St. 
John's Grand Lodge a short time before the union ; and all this, not- 
withstanding Bro. Gardner's assertion, that "it is evident that the St. 
John's Grand Lodge preserved its organization as such only for the pur- 
pose of completing the contemplated union. It granted no charters, nor 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



35 



did it assume any of the powers of a Grand Lodge." A strange thing, 
we would say, to see a Grand Lodge preserve its organization as such 
for the purpose of completing the contemplated union, to see it go into 
the union and form a part of the new Grand Lodge, to see its ritual 
adopted, and to see its Grand Master chosen as the Grand Master of 
the United Grand Lodge, and yet, all this time, according to Bro. 
Gardner, not assuming any of the powers of a Grand Lodge ! We 
know why Bro. Gardner made this statement. We will refer to it when 
we come to the subject of Exclusive Territorial Jurisdiction. Now, 
then, we reiterate our proposition, made at the commencement of this 
topic, which is, that the Lodges formed by Prince Hall, and the re- 
sultant Grand Lodge, were as regular and as legal as the St. John's 
Grand Lodge, formed by Henry Price without any Lodge, and, more- 
over, without any authority, so far as the records show. We say this 
for two reasons : First, because his acts were in accordance with the 
usages of that period, as shown by the quotations already made from 
Bros. Norton and Dove ; secondly, because on page 27, vol. ii, of the 
American Freemason, April 18, 1869, ma y De found the following: 

' ' On the call for papers, by a Commission of the Grand Lodge of 
Massachusetts, it has been proven that Prince Hall was duly appointed 
Provincial Grand Master for Lodges of black men in America, by ex- 
actly the same English Grand Lodge which appointed Henry Price, 
sixty years previously, a Provincial Grand Master for Lodges of white 
men in America ; and that he was corresponded with by the authori- 
ties of such English Grand Lodge, and recognized in that official ca- 
pacity as long as was any other English-appointed Grand Master for 
any portion of the United States." 

In further support of the regularity of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, 
as well as Prince Hall's authority to act as a Provincial Grand Master, 
we submit the opinions and conclusions of eminent white Masonic 
scholars concerning the same, and some of whom we know to be un- 
friendly toward us. 

Bro. Robbins, in his report to the Grand Lodge of Illinois, in 1876, 
says : 

'.' We believe, and we think we have shown in former reports, that 
the original legitimacy of African Lodge, out of which the Prince Hall 
Grand Lodge grew, is beyond question ; and that its members were 
robbed of their just rights when the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts 
was formed in 1792." 

In answer to a letter written by Bro. John D. Caldwell, Grand 
Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, and editor of "New Day — New 
3 



36 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



Duty" to 111. •. Bro. Albert Pike, asking his opinion on the Masonic 
regularity of the Prince Hall Lodges of men of color, Bro. Pike, under 
date of 13th September, 1875, Alexandria, Va., replied as follows: 

" Our folks only stave off the question by saying that negro Masons 
here are clandestine. Prince Hall Lodge was as regular a Lodge as 
any Lodge created by competent authority, and had a perfect right (as 
other Lodges in Europe did) to establish other Lodges, making itself 
a mother Lodge. That's the way the Berlin Lodges — Three Globes 
and Royal York — became Grand Lodges." 

Bro. Theodore S. Parvin, whom Bro. John D. Caldwell compli- 
ments as being one of the best informed Masonic officers in any of the 
States, in answer to the same inquiry, writes as follows : 

"I have read opinions of Pike and Lewis in the pamphlet you sent 
me. My opinion is that the negroes can make as good a show for the 
legality of their Grand Lodges as the whites can. It is only a matter 
of taste, and not of laws. 

"I am satisfied that all the world outside the United States will, ere 
long, recognize them, and I think we had much better acknowledge 
them than to blend them into our organizations." 

Grand Master Griswold in his address to the Grand Lodge of Min- 
nesota, has the following, with much other excellent matter that we 
much desire to quote, to say: 

11 After a somewhat careful investigation of this matter, I am satis- 
fied that the so called irregularities attending the organization of the 
first colored Grand Lodge in this country were fewer in number and 
of less importance than those pertaining to some other American 
Grand Lodges — Grand Lodges, now venerable with age, to whom we 
look with feelings of reverence, who have been mighty powers in giv- 
ing tone to American Masonry — who stand to-day deservedly in the 
lead, and from whom we trace our Masonic descent. The facts are, 
brethren, that with reference to these matters we are ' living in glass 
houses,' and it is not, in my opinion, at all wise for us to engage in 
the sport of throwing stones." 

With the opinions of such eminent Masonic scholars as these in 
our favor we think the legitimacy of Prince Hall Grand Lodge is well 
established. 

But we desire to briefly state the facts connected with the organiza- 
tion of two or three other Grand Lodges. 

First, the St. Andrew's Grand Lodge, or Massachusetts Grand 
Lodge. The chief constituent Lodge, St. Andrew's, ' 'originated in 
1752 by nine clandestine made Masons. In 1756, when it was chartered 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



37 



by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, it numbered twenty-one members, 
exclusive of one of the original nine, who left Boston in the interval. 
Its charter did not arrive until 1760, at which time the Lodge had been 
increased by eighteen additional members; so that in all thirty-one 
candidates were initiated before the Lodge received its charter, and 
thirteen before the charter was signed." — [Robbins, 111., 187 1]. In 
1769, St. Andrew's, with three Army Lodges, formed the Massachu- 
setts Grand Lodge, with Joseph Warren as Grand Master. In 1775, 
Bro. Warren was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill. According to 
Bro. Gardner's exposition of the powers of a Provincial Grand Lodge, 
and also a Provincial Grand Master, when Provincial Grand Master 
Joseph Warren expired on Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, the Provincial 
Grand Lodge of which he was the essence and life, expired also, and 
with it all the officers of which it was composed. In 1777, February 
14th, a Grand Lodge was called by the deputy of Warren to hear the 
petition of a number of brethren for a charter; they doubted their 
power to act and called another meeting for the 7th of March, to 
which all Masters and Wardens were summoned by the Deputy Grand 
Master. Now, if Bro. Gardner's conclusions were correct, by what 
authority could the Deputy call a Grand Lodge meeting? What au- 
thority had he to summon any one ? None whatever. Let us see 
what was the result of this summons. On the 8th of March eleven 
brethren answered the summons, and "proceeded to unanimously 
elect a Grand Master, Grand Wardens, and other grand officers, 
Joseph Webb being chosen Grand Master." We here quote Brother 
Gardner's requirement for a Grand Lodge organization: " Three 
regularly chartered Lodges existing in any State or Territory have the 
right to establish a Grand Lodge." We will now see if such was the 
case in the re-organization in 1777. There were present, the Master of 
St. Peter's Lodge, the Senior Warden and seven other members of St. 
Andrew's Lodge, a Past Master and one other member of Tyrian 
Lodge, making eleven in all, only two of whom could be considered 
representative officers in any sense of the term ; therefore only two 
Lodges were represented instead of three, as Brother Gardner states is 
necessary. Please do not forget the fact that when Prince Hall Grand 
Lodge was organized in 1808, there were three Lodges represented. 
Yet this organization is the basis of the Grand Lodge which charac- 
terizes the Prince Hall Grand Lodge as being irregular. 

We will now call your attention to the organization of the Grand 
Lodge of New Hampshire. We are indebted to Brother Gardner, of 



38 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



Massachusetts, for this scrap of history. Brother Bell, of New 
Hampshire, from the " Committee on Foreign Correspondence," in 
reviewing Massachusetts in 1869 on the topic of the violation of the 
territorial rights of Massachusetts in the establishment of African 
Lodge, No. 459, says: 

"In Massachusetts there was no legal Grand Lodge until the union 
in 1792." 

This stirs up Brother Gardner, as it were, with a sharp stick, and 
he replies to Brother Bell in his memorable address of 1870, which 
is so rich in valuable historical matter relating to negro Masonry. 
Brother Gardner says : 

"The Grand Lodge of New Hampshire was organized on the 8th 
of July, 1789, by four deputies from St. John's Lodge of Portsmouth, 
chartered by Massachusetts 'St. John's Grand Lodge,', June 24th, 
1734, and one deputy from Rising Sun Lodge, of Keene, chartered 
by the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, March 5, 1784 — five deputies from 
two Lodges. All Masonic authorities claim that to organize a legiti- 
mate Grand Lodge, there must be present the representatives of not 
less than three Lodges holding charters or warrants from some legal 
Grand Lodge." 

We again call attention to the fact that at the organization of Prince 
Hall Grand Lodge in 1808 there were present the representatives of 
three regular Lodges. What think you of our descent as compared 
with Massachusetts and New Hampshire ? 

This is what Brother Gardner says concerning the relations existing 
between his own Grand Lodge and the Grand Lodge of New Hamp- 
shire, which he has shown to be so irregularly formed : 

" However irregularly organized the Grand Lodge of New Hamp- 
shire may have been, the ' Massachusetts Grand Lodge ' disclaimed 
jurisdiction in that State thereafter. It is unnecessary to state that this 
Grand Lodge, since 1789 to the present time, has been on the most 
friendly and fraternal relations with our sister Grand Lodge of New 
Hampshire." 

What a commentary here upon the attitude of the Grand Lodge of 
Massachusetts towards the negro Masons of America, who can show, 
by the very records brought to light by her, a clearer and better title 
to legitimacy than either Massachusetts or New Hampshire. Does it 
need a seer to tell the reason of this unjust discrimination? Shame! 
■ shame! ! SHAME! ! ! 

Brother Robbins, of Illinois, in commenting upon Brother Gardner's 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



39 



expose of the organization of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, 
disposes of the matter so gracefully and at the same time gives Massa- 
chusetts such a hard rub that we quote him in full on this point. He 
says : 

"All the Lodges in New Hampshire existing prior to 1790, with 
the single exception of St. John's, was chartered by the ' Massachu- 
setts Grand Lodge.' 

"He then shows from the records that five Lodges were chartered in 
New Hampshire by the ' Massachusetts Grand Lodge ' during the 
period alluded to by Brother Bell, and remarks, ' that however irregu- 
larly organized the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire may have been, 
the Massachusetts Grand Lodge disclaimed jurisdiction in that State 
thereafter.' If it should appear that the Massachusetts Grand Lodge 
was no more regularly organized than the Grand Lodge of New 
Hampshire, this disclaimer may lose something of its apparent magna- 
nimity and the boundary line between dangerous and safe ground have 
to be sought farther South than Brother Gardner intimates. He says, 
as we have seen, that ' all Masonic authorities claim that to organize 
a legitimate Grand Lodge, there must be present the representatives 
of not less than three Lodges holding charters or warrants from some 
legal Grand Lodge.' Now as it can not, by any one, be shown that 
the Massachusetts Grand Lodge itself complied with this dictum, we 
can not but think that Brother Gardner had forgotten the old proverb 
when he shied that bolder at our New Hampshire brethren. We think 
we speak advisedly when we say that there is no evidence in existence 
to show that a single one of the eleven brethren named by him as 
being present March 8, 1777, was the representative of a Lodge or 
authorized by any Lodge to participate in the business in which they 
then engaged, that of organizing a Grand Lodge. It can not be 
shown even that the two members of Tyrian Lodge, Gloucester, nor 
he of St. Peter's Lodge, Newburyport, were authorized representatives 
of the bodies to which they belonged. 

' ' Eight of the eleven persons present were members of St. An- 
drew's Lodge, Boston. But St. Andrew's Lodge not consenting, how 
could it be represented? St. Andrew's Lodge did not recognize the 
Massachusetts Grand Lodge; did not even come under the jurisdiction 
of the United Grand Lodge until 1810, up to which time it worked 
under the authority of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and paid dues to 
that body; but, on the contrary, at the origin of the Massachusetts 
Grand Lodge, and subsequently, there was a high feud existing be- 
tween St. Andrew's Lodge and that body, St. Andrew's Lodge being 
the thorn in its side, which furnishes a key to many of the acts of the 
Massachusetts Grand Lodge in those days, among them the manifesto 
of December 6, 1782, which was an attempt to coerce St. Andrew's 
Lodge into submission to it. Manifestly then the eight members of 
St. Andrew's Lodge present when the Massachusetts Grand Lodge was 
formed can not be said to have represented that Lodge. 



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THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



"Of the other three persons present the most that can be said is, 
that there is a bare possibility that they were authorized by the two 
Lodges of which they were members to represent them, but of this, as 
we have before stated, there is absolutely no evidence. It is admitted 
that the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire was formed by five deputies 
representating two Lodges, and it is nowhere claimed that it was 
reduced to the necessity of selecting its Grand Master from a Lodge 
which did not consent to its formation, nor recognize its authority 
when formed." 

These are historical facts sustained by unquestioned records, and 
which prove beyond a doubt the irregular formation of both the Mas- 
sachusetts and New Hampshire Grand Lodges. Now, then, if the 
descent from these two Grand Lodges is considered legal and regular, 
why not the descent of Prince Hall Grand Lodge, which was formed 
by the representatives of three Lodges in Boston, 1808, in a legal and 
regular manner? Make all the denials that you may, weave all the 
complications possible, yet the intelligent observer, following the 
threads of history, and calmly surveying all the circumstances con- 
nected with these several organizations, will come to but one conclu- 
sion, and that is, the origin and descent of the negro Mason is in every 
sense of the words as legal and as regular as the white American 
Mason. 

8. That after the death of Prince Hall, in 1807, the Lodge became 
dormant, and had thereafter no actual existence. 

There is no force in this objection, for the merest tyro in Masonic 
jurisprudence knows that every warrant provides for the succession 
of officers; therefore, Prince Hall's death would have no effect upon 
the life of the Lodge. It seems to us that no intelligent Mason would 
dare to make this objection a test of our legality, for by so doing he 
would vitiate his own existence. With the death of Prince Hall the 
warrant to African Lodge, No. 459, lost none of its vitality, but we 
all know that with the death of Warren, on Bunker Hill, the life of the 
Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts died with him, not by any 
construction of law by us, but according to the law as stated by Bro. 
Gardner of Massachusetts, and according to the English, Irish, and 
Scotch Constitutions. Even admitting that it became dormant, it 
had as much right to resuscitate itself in the following year for the 
purpose of aiding in the formation of a Grand Lodge, as did the Lodges 
in Massachusetts, some of which lay dormant for more than a half 
score of years, and as did the American Union Lodge — one of the 
constituent Lodges of the Grand Lodge of Ohio — which took a sleep 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



41 



from April 23, 1783, to June 28, 1790, upon which date it was revived, 
■only two of its members, Bros. Jonathan Heart and Rufus Putnam, 
being present. These two brethren, with the assistance of seven other 
Masons, opened the Lodge in due form. The dispensation granted by 
Grand Master Rowe in 1776 was read, which, no doubt, was satis- 
factory, for immediately thereafter, on motion of Bro. Putnam, the 
seven brothers who had just assisted in opening the Lodge in due form 
were proposed for membership, and being balloted for they were 
elected to membership. As Bro. Heart and Bro. Putnam were the 
only members present, we have wondered if Bro. Putnam seconded 
his own motion, or whether Bro. Heart, who was in the chair, seconded 
it. We recently read a decision of one of the Grand Masters of the 
Grand Lodge of Ohio in which he decided that a Lodge could do no 
business unless at least eight of its members were present. We won- 
der what that Grand Master would say about the business of Ameri- 
can Union Lodge. It is an excellent thing for American Union Lodge 
that Prince Hall was not its Master, for if he had been, and had done 
what Bro. Heart did, it would not now be a part of the Grand Lodge 
of Ohio, but would have its officers and members endeavoring to con- 
vince the world that it was a legal Lodge of Masons, but for some 
reason robbed of its rights. It makes a mighty difference as to whose 
ox is gored. 

But after all, African Lodge, No. 459, did not become dormant after 
the death of Prince Hall; there is ample evidence to prove that African 
Lodge was in a healthy state of activity from 1807 to 1826, at least, 
during which time the record shows that nearly eighty persons were 
initiated. Quite a lively state of dormancy we would say. 

9. That in 18 13, upon the union of the Grand Lodges of England, 
African Lodge, which had been registered as No. 459, and subsequent- 
ly as 370, was removed from the list, and was never after recognized 
by the Grand Lodge of England. 

All of this we admit to be true ; but being true, what effect has it 
upon our legal status ? Was not all the white Lodges of America re- 
moved from the English registry at the same, or at an earlier date ? 
Did this removal from the list effect their legality? If not, then by what 
mode of reasoning is the conclusion reached that by this removal all 
legality that African Lodge, No. 459, may hitherto have had was de- 
stroyed ? Both white and black Lodges must rise or fall by the same 
logic. 

We know that the Grand Lodge of England did recognize us as 



42 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



late as 1797, for her records show that at that date she received from 
us a contribution to the Grand Charity. No white Grand Lodge can 
show this. 

If the United Grand Lodge of England has never since recognized 
us, we are of the opinion that it is not because they consider us spuri- 
ous, clandestine, or illegal, but because of the strength and influence 
of the white American Masons. England has for the time being been 
led to believe that we are violating the jurisdictional rights of the white 
American Grand Lodges. But we believe the time is not far distant 
when England with her usual sense of justice will take the time to 
thoroughly examine this question, and upon seeing the justness of our 
claims, as she undoubtedly will, she will extend to her black progeny 
here in America the fraternal hand of Brotherly Love, Relief, and 
Truth. 

10. That by the 'Declaration of Independence' made by the Afri- 
can Lodge in June, 1827, its existence came to an end. 

We did no more than the Massachusetts Grand Lodge did on the 
6th day of December, 1782, when it, in full Grand Lodge, adopted the 
following resolution, and made it a part of its constitution : 

' 1 That this Lodge be hereafter known and called by the name of the 
' Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Ancient Masons,' and that it is free 
and independent, in its government and official authority, of any other 
Grand Lodge or Grand Master in the Universe." 

Did this declaration of independence destroy the legality, if it had 
any, of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge ? Was its existence brought 
to an end by this act ? We believe not. Then why should it destroy the 
legality of African Lodge, or terminate its existence ? We demand 
that you measure both of us by the same rule, and we will abide the 
result ; any other course is dishonest, unfair, and unjust. 

But admit that, by this declaration, African Lodge, No. 459, did 
terminate its life. What effect would that have upon the status of 
negro Masons in America ? None whatever. It would only be the 
extinction of one subordinate Lodge — a something that frequently oc- 
curs in every Grand Lodge jurisdiction without in the least affecting 
the Grand Body. 

In 1827 negro Masons were not dependent upon the existence of 
any one subordinate Lodge, for long before then they had provided for 
the legal propagation of the principles of Masonry and the regular 
succession of its organization by the establishment of Grand Lodges 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



43 



in a legal and regular manner. Masonry among colored men in 
America was well on its way in the dissemination of those sublime 
principles underlying the institution of Freemasonry, and was success- 
fully creating therefrom a superstructure which sometime, sooner or 
later, will be tried by the square of virtue and receive its just designa- 
tion of good and true work. 

ii. That by the surrender of its warrant to the "National Grand 
Lodge," in 1847, it l° st i ts character as a Grand Lodge. 

Before meeting this objection, it will be necessary for us to know 
something of the nature of the organization known as the " National 
Grand Lodge." In 1847 there were only three colored Grand Lodges 
in America ; viz : "African Grand Lodge of Massachusetts " (Bos- 
ton), the " First Independent African Grand Lodge of North America " 
(Penn.). and the " Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania." The mem- 
bers of these organizations, believing that the interests of Masonry 
among colored men in America would be enhanced and better pro- 
tected by placing its control in the hands of a central power, met in 
convention in June, 1847, an d organized the li National Grand Lodge 
of the United States of North America," which was to be "the Su- 
preme Masonic Power in the Lnited States." 

In other words, this National Grand Lodge became a supreme 
power over all the territory of the L nited States of America, just as 
England did in the early part of the last century; and the Grand 
Lodges that received warrants from this National Grand Lodge sus- 
tained the same relation to it as the Provincial Grand Lodges, acting 
under the authority of Deputations, sustained to the mother Grand 
Lodge in England. The objection made is, that, by the surrender of 
the warrant of African Lodge to the National Grand Lodge in 1847, 
it lost its character as a Lodge, and, consequently, ceased to exist. 
Now the fact is, no warrant of any subordinate Lodge was surrendered 
to the National Grand Lodge. The only action taken in the matter 
of warrants was that the Grand Lodges forming the convention should 
recognize the newly organized National Grand Lodge as the Supreme 
Masonic Authority of the L'nited States, and agree to take out war- 
rants as Grand Lodges subordinate thereto. The only error made 
was the surrender by the Grand Lodges forming the National Grand 
Lodge of their sovereignty as supreme Masonic authorities ; the legal 
existence of the subordinate Lodges was in no ways disturbed, no 
more so than the subordinate Lodges under the Provincial Grand 
Lodges, which, in turn, were subordinate to the Grand Lodges of 



44 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



England and Scotland. We believe the organization of the National 
Grand Lodge to have been an error, but only as relating to govern- 
ment, and not as to legal succession. Our white brethren endeavored 
to do the same thing in 1779 and 1780, but the measure did not carry. 
There is, to-day, in the United States an organization known as the 
"General Grand Encampment of the United States," and, also, 
another one known as the "General Grand Chapter of the United 
States," both of which, to a certain extent, control the State Grand 
Ccmmanderies and State Grand Chapters. We consider both these or- 
ganizations as errors in Masonic government, and we believe we are 
not alone in this opinion. No doubt our white brethren have effected 
these organizations for what they have deemed to be to the best inter- 
est of these departments of Masonry; to the organizers of the National 
Grand Lodge we must give the same credit, and, no doubt, their idea 
was borrowed from their white brethren, in whose knowledge of Ma- 
sonic government they had implicit confidence. Therefore, do not 
condemn us for what you have done yourselves. As we have grown 
in Masonic intelligence, we have become enlightened concerning our 
errors of government and have corrected them, and, to-day, the Na- 
tional Grand Lodge is a thing of the past, our Grand Lodges being 
sovereign and supreme in their Masonic authority. 

Admitting that African Lodge, No. 459, and all the other subordi- 
nate Lodges existing at that time surrendered their warrants to the new 
power and received new warrants in lieu thereof, would this invalidate 
the legal existence of these subordinate lodges ? We think not. Is 
not that the usual course in the formation of all Grand Lodges ? We 
have read the history of the organization of a number of white Grand 
Lodges in this country, and the course of procedure after organization 
was to require the subordinate Lodges to surrender their old warrants 
■and take out others from the new Grand Lodge. 

We, therefore, claim that the validity of our organizations was not 
affected, even though African Lodge did surrender its warrant. We 
could, if necessary, name several white lodges in Ohio — one being in 
Cincinnati and holding more than a half million dollars in real estate — 
which, to-day, are not working under the warrants under which they 
were first organized ; these they surrendered, and took out new ones 
from the Grand Lodge of Ohio. Yet does any one question the legal 
succession of these Lodges, or the Grand Lodge of Ohio, which they 
formed? Readers of Masonic history know that it has been the other 
way; Lodges have been declared irregular, clandestine, etc., because 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



45 



they would not surrender old warrants and take out new ones under a 
new organization, notably so in the Missouri-New Mexico imbroglio. 

12. That we were not free-born, and therefore could not be made 
Masons, it being contrary to the ancient landmarks to do so. 

In answer to this objection, we direct all those who so object to 
that great Bill of Rights, which the white American points to with so 
much pride, and which declares, "We hold these truths to be self- 
evident : that all men are created EQUAL ; that they are endowed 
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these 
are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness." 

And then we would ask, does it mean that only all white men are 
born equal, or that only all black men are born equal? Or does it mean 
what it says : " All men are born equal ? " We claim that man when 
born is as free as the air which God gave him to breathe ; he may, by 
the laws and customs of his country, be deprived of his freedom after 
birth, but never before. The mind, that immortal part, the man him- 
self, is free and personal, and responsible to God alone. His freedom 
is a birthright which man himself can never yield, because of its in- 
alienableness, and of the exercise of which man may not justly deprive 
him, except as a punishment for crime. 

We, of the United States of America, claim a civilization very much 
superior to that of the Mexican ; whether it be or not we will not here 
-attempt to decide, but we do know that the Aztec code acknowledged 
the absolute freedom of man at birth, whatever his condition might 
oe after that. Prescott, in his Conquest of Mexico, says : " The most 
remarkable part of the Aztec code was that relating to slavery. The 
slave was allowed to have his own family. His children were free. No 
■one could be born to slavery in Mexico." 

Chief Justice Holt, of the Queen's Bench, England, says : 

" In England there is no such thing as a slave, and a human being 
never wa s considered a chattel to be sold for a price." 

This is sufficient to show that our opinion is sustained by eminent 
judicial minds, and that the objection to our being free born is petty 
and trifling, and has no validity either in law or equity. 

That it is a "landmark," which it is not in the power of man to 
remove, is untrue. Let us see what a " landmark " is. In " Mackey's 
Jurisprudence " we find the following relating to this subject : 

"The foundations of Masonic law are to be found in the land- 
marks, or Unwritten Law, and in the Ancient Constitution, or the 



4 6 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



Written Law [p. 12] : 'Of the nature of the landmarks of Masonry 
there has been some diversity of opinion [.* With respect to the land- 
marks of Masonry, some restrict them to the O. B., signs, tokens, and 
words. Others include the ceremonies of initiation, passing, and rais- 
ing, and the form, dimensions, and supports; the ground, situation,, 
and covering; the ornaments, furniture, and jewels of a Lodge, or 
their characteristic symbols. Some think that the order has no land- 
marks beyond its peculiar secrets.' — Oliver, Diet. Symb., Mass.], but 
perhaps the safest method is to restrict them to those ancient, and there- 
fore universal customs of the order, which either gradually grew into 
operation as rules of action, or if it at once enacted by any competent 
authority were enacted at a period so remote that no account of their 
origin is to be found in the records of history. Both the enactors and 
the time of the enactment have passed away from the record, and the 
landmarks are therefore ' of higher antiquity than memory or history 
can reach.' 

"The first requisite therefore of a custom or rule of action to con- 
stitute it a landmark is, that it must have existed from ' time whereof 
the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.' Its antiquity is its 
essential element. Were it possible for all the Masonic authorities at 
the present day to unite in a universal congress, and with the most 
perfect unanimity to adopt any new regulation, although such regula- 
tion would, so long as it remained unrepealed, be obligatory on the 
whole craft, yet it would not be a landmark. It would have the char- 
acter of universality, it is true, but it would be wanting in that of an- 
tiquity." (P. 15.) 

Now then, a few words relating to the formulation of landmarks. 
We have already seen that there is considerable diversity among au- 
thors as to what constitute landmarks; as a result we have, according 
to each author's ideas, different enumerations of landmarks. Mackey 
gives twenty-five landmarks as being the number; Dr. Oliver gives 
eight; Morris gives seventeen ; Simons gives fifteen ; the Constitution 
of the Grand Lodge of New York gives thirty-one; Mitchell gives six; 
Lockwood gives nineteen. We wish that we had the time and space 
to select from each of these authorities on Masonic law some of their 
landmarks, and show to you their utter emptiness of every essential 
^necessary to constitute a landmark. The fact, which you will find to 
be so upon examination, is, many of these brethren have taken re- 
cent enactments and forms of Masonic government for their basis, 
and have formulated therefrom landmarks in accordance with their 
ideas. But as we have to do at the present time with the matter of 
" free-born," we will confine our examination to that point. On page 
31, Mackey' s Jwisprudence, we find; 

' ' Landmark Eighteenth — Certain Qualifications of Candidates for 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



47 



Initiation are derived from a Landmark of the Order. These qualifica- 
tions are, that he shall be a man — shall be unmutilated, free-born, and 
of mature age. That is to say, a woman, a cripple, or a slave, or one 
born in slavery, is disqualified for initiation into the rites of Masonry." 

Now this is a gratuitous deduction made by Mr. Mackey to sustain 
one of his landmarks. He has neither traditionary nor historical evi- 
dence to sustain his deductions. The fact is, these qualifications were 
nothing but regulations enacted by various Masonic assemblies, and 
therefore properly belonging to the general regulations, or the written 
law, and liable to be changed at any time that any competent Masonic 
authority might think it expedient to do so. And we will find by 
tracing the history of the regulation relating to bondmen that some 
Grand Lodges have thought it expedient to do so, and, I might add, 
justly and properly so. 

In discussing the "qualifications of candidates" under the topic, 
"Political Qualifications," Mackey says: 

"The political qualifications of candidates are those which refer to 
their position in society. To only one of these do any of the ancient 
constitutions allude. We learn from them that the candidate for the 
mysteries of Masonry must be 1 free-born.' " 

He then cites the regulations and the dates of their enactments. 
Please mark that Mr. Mackey refers not to a landmark, but to the 
ancient constitutions for his law in relation to the "qualification of 
candidates." Please mark again, that he gives the date of enactment 
and the names of the enactors, which he could not give were it a land- 
mark, for he says, concerning landmarks, "both the enactors and the 
time of enactment have passed away from the record." 

In the York constitutions the reason for such a regulation is given, 
which is a very trivial one, so much so that it has not sufficient breadth 
upon which to build a landmark, and therefore Mr. Mackey discourses 
as follows : "The reason assigned in the old York constitution for 
this regulation does not appear to be the correct one." Indeed ! Now, 
if the reason was not correct, might not the statement of the regula- 
tion have been incorrect ? Mr. Mackey is quite willing to accept the 
regulation because it suits his ideas, but he rejects the reasons ; they 
-are not strong enough to support his theories on "political qualifica- 
tions." We believe that the Masons at the York Assembly knew what 
they were doing and assigned what they thought to be the correct 
reason for their actions, notwithstanding the opinion of Mr. Mackey. 
He gives the following as his reasons for its enactment : 



4 8 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



" Slaves ^nd persons born in servitude are not initiated, because, 
in the first place, as respects the former class, their servile condition 
renders them legally incapable of making a contract ; in the second 
place, because the admission of slaves among freemen would be a 
violation of that social equality in the Lodge which constitutes one of 
the landmarks of Masonry; and in the third place, as respects both 
classes — the present slave and the freedman who was born in slavery 
— because the servile condition is believed to be necessarily accom- 
panied by a degradation of mind and abasement of spirit which unfit 
them to be recipients of the sublime doctrines of Freemasonry." 

To the first condition we have no denial to make; but it is not to 
the discredit of the enslaved race that it is so, but rather to the disgrace 
and shame of those who deprive the slave of his legal right to make a 
contract. Take all the comfort out of this that you may. To the other 
conditions we enter our protest; the statements are not philosophical; 
they do not agree with the principles of Masonry and are not in accord 
with the facts of history. We can not give further time to the discussion 
of this point, but we say to all those who subscribe to Mr. Mackey's 
"social equality" landmark, you do not understand the spirit of 
Masonry, and you need a new baptism; to those who subscribe to his 
" degradation and abasement" theory, we advise you to study the his- 
tory of the enslaved nations of the • earth and ascertain what has been 
the product of their degraded and abased minds. 

If there is any faith to be placed in the traditions and history of our 
institution all this idle talk about " free-born" will vanish as the morn- 
ing mist before the orb of day; for our institution, according to its 
traditions, was nurtured and fostered by a nation of bondmen and the 
sons of bondmen. Its rituals are based upon the incidents of an en- 
slaved race; its culminating glory, according to its rituals, was the 
result of the labors of bondmen ; and it was a bondman that displayed 
the almighty force of truth, and caused Darius to permit the building 
of the second Temple. 

The most conclusive evidence that we have that the qualification 
of being free-born is simply a General Regulation which any Grand 
Lodge may alter or amend as it may see fit, is the action of the Grand 
Lodge of England, in 1838, when, by resolution, the term "free-born"' 
was stricken from the list of "qualifications of candidates," and the 
word "free" inserted therefor. 

Mackey says of this: 

' ' This unwarranted innovation, which was undoubtedly a sacrifice 
to expediency, has met with the general condemnation of the Grand 
Lodges of this country." 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



49 



We have no desire to comment on Mr. Mackey's opinions of this 
act, more than to say that the Grand Lodge of England did what she 
conceived to be right and in accordance with the true spirit of Masonry, 
while the Grand Lodges of this country, in condemning her, did what 
they conceived to be right and in accordance with the true spirit of 
prejudice against the negro. 

13. That our Lodges and Grand Lodges violate the "American 
Doctrine of Exclusive Territorial Jurisdiction," and therefore have no 
legal right to exist. 

This is the bulwark behind which the white American Grand Lodges 
are seeking refuge. If this fail them, they will indeed be in the slough 
of despond. Their investigating committees, and their historical com- 
mittees have written letters to the Grand Lodge of England, have ex- 
amined records and documents, and have made historical comparisons 
with the same result in every case, viz., to see all their objections met 
and refuted with scarcely a foot-hold left them. Bro. Gardner recog- 
nizes this fact, when, in his famous address of 1870, after examining 
every objection against us, he sayS: "This is simply a question of 
Grand Lodge jurisdiction, and we can consider it calmly and without 
prejudice." Is not this a complete and satisfactory admission in our 
favor? Nothing against us but the "question of Grand Lodge juris- 
diction." Unless the "American Doctrine of Exclusive Territorial 
Jurisdiction" can be made tenable ground their case is lost. 

We shall do what we can to dislodge them, and we do not feel it 
to be a hard task either, for precedent, custom, and law are all on our 
side. If we were asked to name the one thing of all others that is 
most damaging to the claim of the white American Grand Lodges to 
exclusive territorial jurisdiction, we would answer at once, the two 
words "American Doctrine." The assumption of this title is a direct 
blow at the principle of universality. One of the fundamental princi- 
ples of the institution of Masonry is the universality of all its doctrines 
and tenets; they can no more be American than they can be Euro- 
pean, or Asiatic, or African. And for the Grand Lodges of America 
to set themselves up as autocrats and institute a new doctrine is con- 
trary to all Masonic principle, and I believe, when properly examined, 
will be repudiated by every Masonic power on the Globe. 

The position which we take in the discussion of this question is : 
That no Lodge, Grand or Subordinate, holds absolute and exclusive 
jurisdiction over the political territory in which it is located: that two 
or more Lodges, Grand or Subordinate, may hold concurrent jurisdic- 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



tion in the same political territory ; and that the authority of each is 
■only over the Lodges and members of its respective creation. 

This being our position, we claim that the colored Grand Lodges, 
with their subordinates, exercising Masonic authority in the states and 
territories where white Grand Lodges with their subordinates are 
likewise exercising Masonic authority, do not violate any Masonic 
principle, and therefore their legality as Grand and Subordinate bodies 
is not invalidated in the least. 

We shall now attempt to prove the correctness of our position by 
well established precedent and usage, and also to prove that the 
American Doctrine is an assumption of authority not belonging to any 
Grand Lodge. To aid us in this we will adduce historical facts sup- 
plemented by the opinions of learned Masonic jurists. 

We desire to notice, first, the charge that when the Grand Lodge 
•of England granted a charter to African Lodge, No. 459, it violated 
the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge. This we deny, 
for two reasons. First, on the ground that no Grand Lodge existed 
in Massachusetts until 1792, and we give as authority for this state- 
ment Brother Gardner, of Massachusetts. In defining the powers of 
a Grand Lodge, and naming the elements necessary for its constitu- 
tion, he says, "Three regularly chartered Lodges existing in any 
State or Territory have the right to establish a Grand Lodge." Now 
we defy Brother Gardner or any one else to show at what time and 
what place "three regularly chartered Lodges" met in the State of 
Massachusetts and formed a Grand Lodge prior to 1792. He can 
not do it. History is against him. He may deduce as much as he 
pleases, but facts are facts, and they can not be controverted even to 
satisfy the claim that a legal Grand Lodge was organized in 1777. 
Secondly, on the ground that the Massachusetts Grand Lodge did not 
possess exclusive territorial jurisdiction in 1784, and, therefore, her 
territorial rights could not be violated. In taking this ground we 
admit, for the sake of argument, that the organization effected in 1777, 
however irregular it may have been, was a Grand Lodge, and that it 
continued to exercise the powers of Grand Lodge until 1782, when, 
not knowing whether it was a Grand Lodge or what its powers were, it 
' ' Voted, that a committee be appointed to draw resolutions explanatory 
of the powers and authority of this Grand Lodge respecting the ex- 
tent and meaning of its jurisdiction, and of the exercise of any other 
Masonic authorities within its jurisdiction." The report of the com- 
mittee was not satisfactory to all of the brethren, and as a consequence 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



Si 



St. Andrew's Lodge refused to sever its connection with the Grand 
Lodge of Scotland, and then and there commenced an existence 
subordinate to the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and independent of the 
jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, and remained so 
until 1809. The remaining Lodges continued the organization until 
1792, when the union was formed. Whatever jurisdiction the Massa- 
chusetts Grand Lodge possessed during this period — 1777 to 1792 — 
it was certainly not exclusive; for first, there was the St. John's Grand 
Lodge which commenced its existence in 1733, and possessed even 
more authority to claim exclusive territorial jurisdiction than the 
Massachusetts Grand Lodge, for its Provincial Grand Master was 
living from 1768 to 1787, while Joseph Warren, Provincial Grand 
Master of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, died in 1775, and this 
-according to Brother Gardner's theories terminated the life of the 
Massachusetts Grand Lodge ; the St. John's Grand Lodge, as has al- 
ready been shown, performed the functions of a Grand Lodge at 
various times during the existence of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge 
and up to the time of the union in 1792. The Massachusetts Grand 
Lodge recognized St. John's as a legal Grand Body by the several acts 
preparatory to the union and at the time of the union. Thus we see 
there were two Grand Lodges in Massachusetts exercising concurrent 
jurisdiction at the time that England granted to Prince Hall and his 
associates a charter for African Lodge, No. 459. If two Grand Lodges 
•could, as they did, exercise concurrent jurisdiction, why not three ? 
Secondly, the Massachusetts Grand Lodge did not exercise jurisdiction 
over all the Lodges of its claimed constituency, for, as we -have already 
shown, St. Peter's and Tyrian did not give their allegiance thereto un- 
til a considerable time after its organization — Tyrian, in September, 
1794, and St. Peter's, in March, 1795; St. Andrew's Lodge absolute- 
ly refused to recognize the Massachusetts Grand Lodge as a Grand 
Lodge and did not even come under the jurisdiction of the United 
Grand Lodge until 18 10, up to which time it worked under the au- 
thority of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and paid dues to that body, 
severing its connection therefrom, not by revolution, but by regular 
withdrawal and with the consent of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. 

Again, we see that instead of one Grand Lodge exercising ex- 
clusive territorial jurisdiction, there are four exercising concurrent 
jurisdiction, viz., the St. John's Grand Lodge, the Massachusetts 
Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of England, and the Grand Lodge of 
.Scotland. Which is it, exclusive or concurrent territorial jurisdiction ? 
4 



52 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



If the establishment of African Lodge, No. 459, was a violation of the 
rights of Massachusetts Grand Lodge, then why was not the existence 
of St. John's Grand Lodge a violation? Why was not the continued 
existence of St. Andrew's Lodge until 1810 a violation? If the mani- 
festo of December 6th, 1782, is the basis upon which the Massachu- 
setts Grand Lodge asserts claim to exclusive jurisdiction, and declares 
the existence of African Lodge a violation of its rights, why not make 
the same declaration concerning St. Andrew's Lodge ? If the union of 
the two Grand Lodges in 1792 gave to the new Grand Lodge exclu- 
sive jurisdiction, and made all Lodges not allying themselves thereto 
illegal and clandestine, why should African Lodge, No. 459, be so 
denominated and St. Andrew's Lodge excepted? African Lodge, No. 
459, was known to be in active existence in 1792, for it is of record 
that some of the white Masons of Boston were received as visitors 
therein ; was she invited to become a part of the new organization in 
1792? There is no record to show it. It is of record, though, that 
St. Andrew's Lodge was invited and that it refused to join with them, 
yet St. Andrew's, after defying the authority of the Massachusetts 
Grand Lodge for nearly thirty-three years is welcomed into its fold as a 
just and legal and regular Lodge, while African Lodge is denounced 
as clandestine, irregular, and illegal. On the one hand is the St. An- 
drew's Lodge, organized in 1752, with nine clandestine made Masons,, 
standing out alone in open defiance to all the manifestos and articles 
of constitution of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and yet received 
and welcomed with much joy; on the other hand stands African 
Lodge, No. 459, with as pure a parentage and as legal an organization 
as ever Mason had, willing to come under the authority of the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts, yet denied and villified. Need I ask why 
was this ? And yet, all through this land the cry goes up concerning 
the violation of the territory of Massachusetts Grand Lodge by the 
organization of African Lodge, No. 459, but not a word against the 
acts of St. Andrew's Lodge, under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, 
from 1777 to 181 o. The words of Bro. Joseph Robbins, of Illinois,, 
so fittingly express our feelings on this point that we quote them : 

''Isolated, ridiculed, denied the sympathy and support to which, 
as members of a universal brotherhood, they felt themselves entitled, 
and smarting under a sense of bitter wrong, is it strange that they 
yielded to that desire for human fellowship to which all races of men 
are subject, and sought to create means for its gratification [referring, 
to the organization of Lodges at Philadelphia and Providence] ? They 
would have been something more or less than human had they done 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



53 



otherwise. Whether an equal number of white Masons, with the same 
or less claim to recognition, would not long ago have been gathered 
into itself, is a question that may well be taken home by the Grand 
Lodge which, in the beautiful language of Bro. Gardner, ' stands upon 
the high vantage ground of this Catholic society, and recognizes the 
great principles which must underlie an institution which has a home 
on the continents and on the islands of the sea.' " 

We now come to the general question of "Exclusive Territorial 
Jurisdiction." It is claimed that our Grand Lodges by occupying 
territory in common with the white Grand Lodges of this country vio- 
late this doctrine, and are therefore illegal. Our idea of illegality, as 
applied to Masonic bodies, means a violation of some Masonic princi- 
ple universal in its application and fundamental in its character. Is this 
true of the doctrine of exclusive territorial jurisdiction. We think not. 
It is American in its origin; is not recognized outside of the United 
States, and was not known or thought of until enacted by the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts in the latter part of the last century. The his- 
tory of its origin is thus recorded by Bro. Gardner in his address to the 
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1870 : 

" The institution of Freemasonry, which numbered amorig its firmest 
adherents such revolutionists as Webb, Revere, Morton, and a host 
of others who followed in the footsteps of Warren, could not long 
withstand the influence of freedom, and Massachusetts set the exam- 
ple of a revolution in Masonic government [italics ours] which has been 
followed successfully by every State in the Union. It has become the 
American system, or, as the committee of New Hampshire call it, 
' The American Doctrine of Grand Lodge Jurisdiction.' " 

Here we have a dogma enunciated in the form of a simple resolu- 
tion, the product of a revolution in Masonic government, which, at 
the behest of a single Grand Lodge, the entire Masonic world must 
accept as a fundamental Masonic principle. This is indeed an assump- 
tion of authority that might well cause us to ask, Whither are we drift- 
ing ? We look in vain for its fundamental quality; and its universality 
is limited to a single nation who find in it a safe cloak under which to 
hide their prejudices against the negro Mason. 

We quote further from Brother Gardner on this matter: 

"The 'American doctrine of Grand Lodge jurisdiction' briefly 
stated is this : Three regularly chartered Lodges existing in any State 
or Territory have the right to establish a Grand Lodge therein. Such 
Grand Lodge, when lawfully organized, has sole, absolute, and exclu- 
sive jurisdiction over the three degrees of craft Masonry, over the 
Lodges and their members, and over all Masons, unaffiliated as well 



54 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



as affiliated, in such State or Territory. No other Grand Lodge what- 
ever can lawfully interfere with this jurisdiction, and can neither 
establish Lodges in such State, nor continue any authority over bodies 
which it might properly have exercised prior to the organization of 
such Lodge therein. 

"By the erection of a Grand Lodge in such State, all Masonic 
power over what is popularly called Blue Masonry are merged in it, 
and henceforth it exists therein supreme and sovereign over a juris- 
diction which it can never divide nor share with any other Masonic 
Grand body in the world. 

"The several States of the United States of America, the Terri- 
tories when legally organized as such by Congress, and the District of 
Columbia, are each recognized as separate and independent jurisdic- 
tions in which Grand Lodges may be established. 

"This is the American doctrine most religiously and Masonically 
adhered to by the craftsmen of the United States, and which our 
brethren upon the other side of the Atlantic must accede to, recognize, 
and support." 

We have given all of Brother Gardner's "doctrine" in order that 
our readers may see what a master of rhetoric he is, and how with 
legal exactness he covers every possible point. We call this Brother 
Gardner's " doctrine," for we believe it to have been evolved from his 
mind in the seclusion of his study while burning the midnight oil ; or, 
perhaps, it may be one of the "local regulations" of Massachusetts. 
We are certain it is not a "general regulation," for we have searched 
Masonic records o'er and o'er to find the time when, and the place 
where, the General Assembly met to adopt this measure. And still 
more are we certain that it is not a "landmark," for it bears neither 
the mark of universality or antiquity; therefore, we assert it as our 
belief, that it is Brother Gardner's doctrine. 

That it is not universal, is proven by language used, wherein it is 
stated that "our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic must accede 
to, recognize, and support it." I think our brethren on this side of 
the Atlantic will have quite a task on hand when they attempt to force 
universal obedience to this "doctrine." We can not take more time 
in the analysis of this wonderful document than to say that historical 
evidence is at hand to refute every clause of which it is constructed. 

With reference to the first clause, neither of the Grand Lodges of 
New Hampshire or Massachusetts was formed in accordance there- 
with, although there were more than three regularly chartered Lodges 
in each State. 

With reference to the second clause, instances are numerous where 
other Grand Lodges than the ones formed in accordance with this 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



55 



doctrine, have exercised jurisdiction over the three degrees of Craft 
Masonry ; for instance, the Grand Lodge of Scotland in the case of 
Massachusetts, and also in Quebec • the Grand Lodge of England in 
Massachusetts, and also in Canada, and in New South Wales; the 
Grand Lodge of Virginia in West Virginia; the Grand Lodge of 
Hamburg in New York ; the Grand Lodge of Missouri in New Mex- 
ico; the two Grand Lodges in South Carolina; the three Grand 
Lodges in New York ; the two Grand Lodges in Louisiana ; the two 
Grand Lodges of England; the three Grand Lodges of Prussia, and 
numerous other examples that might be cited to show the correctness 
of our position and the absurdity of the ' ' American doctrine of ex- 
clusive territorial jurisdiction." Massachusetts herself, in the pre- 
amble to the resolutions adopted in 1782, admits the existence of con- 
current jurisdiction in these words: 

' 1 That in the history of our craft we find that in England there are 
two Grand Lodges independent of each, in Scotland the same, and 
in Ireland their Grand Lodge and Grand Master are independent of 
either." 

% 

As these criticisms apply to the first two clauses, so they also apply 
to the remaining clauses. 

The true theory of Grand Lodge jurisdiction is correctly set forth 
in Article III of the series of articles engrafted into the constitution of 
the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, in 1782, as follows: 

' ' That the power and authority of the said Grand Lodge be con- 
strued to extend throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and 
to any of the United States, where none other is erected, over such 
Lodges only as this Grand Lodge has constituted, or shall constitute." 

This, we have said, is the true theory of Grand Lodge jurisdiction. 
Every Grand Lodge has authority and jurisdiction over all the Lodges 
oflts own creation and none others, no matter where they may be situ- 
ated. And in the organization of a Grand Lodge in a territory where 
there are Lodges subordinate to different Grand Lodges, the new 
Grand Lodge acquires jurisdiction over the Lodges only that consti- 
tute it. The right does not reside in any body of Masons to force the 
Lodges outside of the new Grand Lodge to surrender their old war- 
rants and take out new ones under the new Grand Lodge. A warranted 
Lodge has rights that can not be abrogated by a simple resolution ; 
one of these rights is to retain its membership in the Grand Lodge of 
which it forms a constituent part; it can not be forced out of its mother 



56 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



Grand Lodge. To do so would be a violation of every principle un- 
derlying our institution. 

We repeat, again, that the doctrine of exclusive territorial jurisdic- 
tion is an American dogma, unmasonic in character and not supported 
by any law or principle known to Masonry; before the institution of 
Grand Lodges the Masonic jurisdiction of a Lodge was universal and 
concurrent with that of all others; and since, it has been the same, 
excepting in America, where a false system has been foisted onto the 
craft. It had its origin in revolution and aims to be kept alive by 
force and assumption. 

As a proof of this it is only necessary to review the proceedings of 
the various Grand Lodges of America to find resolution after resolu- 
tion being adopted to bolster up this false doctrine. 

And yet, after all the legislation in reference thereto, we find the 
American Grand Lodges not adhering to it ; for the records show that 
numbers of Grand Lodges, while holding concurrent jurisdiction with 
other Grand Lodges, have been received and acknowledged as Sover- 
eign Grand Lodges. This is true in the case of the Grand Lodge of 
Quebec, the Grand Lodge of New South Wales, the Grand Lodge of* 
West Virginia, the Grand Lodge of Dakota, the Grand Lodge of New 
Mexico, and others that could be named. 

Although this is called the "American Doctrine," yet there are 
numbers of American Masons who can not shut their eyes to the fact 
that it violates the relation that must always exist between a subordi- 
nate Lodge and its mother Grand Lodge, and therefore their sound 
sense and judgment will not permit them to subscribe to it. To prove 
this, we quote the expressions of learned American Masonic jurists in 
relation to the same : 

Brother Bell, of New Hampshire, said, in 1869: 

"The American doctrine of Grand Lodge jurisdiction has grown 
up since then [meaning the establishment of African Lodge], and is 
not elsewhere fully received now." 

Bro. John D. Vincil, of Missouri, in reviewing the Proceedings of 
the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, in 1880, says: 

"The questions between our Grand Lodge and New Mexico re- 
main unsettled. The Grand Lodge of New Mexico has proclaimed 
that the charter of Silver City Lodge, No. 465, is under arrest. That 
Lodge was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Missouri, October 17, 
1873, before the Grand Lodge of New Mexico was formed. As the 
life of Silver City Lodge was derived from the Grand Lodge of Mis- 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



57 



souri, so its allegiance must be rendered to this Grand Lodge. By no 
act has Silver City Lodge forfeited the life given it by the Missouri 
Grand Lodge. Its allegiance to the creating power — Missouri — must 
continue until transferred to another by its own act, or its mother 
Grand Lodge.' 1 

Brother Vincil enunciates true Masonic doctrine in the above. We 
now quote from the Proceedings of Minnesota, 1880, in relation to the 
dispute between the Grand Lodges of Minnesota and Dakota: 

' ' Resolved, That any Masonic body holding authority from this 
Grand Lodge within Dakota Territory, so long as it shall desire to con- 
tinue its connection with this, its paternal Grand Lodge, be permitted 
to do so, and that this M. W. Grand Lodge will defend and main- 
tain its rights, and exercise authority over it, until such time as by its 
own free will and accord it shall desire to sever connection with us." 

This seems to be decided opposition to " exclusive territorial juris- 
diction.'' 

The Grand Secretary of Dakota, Bro. A. T. C. Pierson, says, upon 
the " dogma of exclusive jurisdiction :" 

"The doctrine is declared to be 'an outgrowth of the declaration 
of the independence of the colonies from the mother country.' 'Al- 
though an ijt?iovation o?i the practices of the Grand Lodges then in existence,'' 
it has since become popular and has very generally [not entirely so] 
obtained among the American Grand Lodges. European Grand 
Lodges have never recognized the doctrine." 

Bro. A. S. Wait, of New Hampshire, in 1881, in reviewing Illinois, 
utters the following sound doctrine in relation to exclusive jurisdiction : 

"We have long been of the opinion that the relations of the various 
Grand Lodges was a system of Masonic comity, and not of positive 
law." 

After discoursing further upon this subject to show the absurdity of 
the "doctrine," he says : 

' ' We may as well go farther and say, what we think, that upon 
the regular formation of a Grand Lodge, all Lodges within the terri- 
tory of its rightful jurisdiction ought to give in their adhesion to it, and 
the Grand Lodges from which they received their charters ought, from 
motives of fraternal comity to advise such a course. But we neither 
think that Lodges declining to join in the organization of the new 
Grand body become extinct by its formation, nor that by refusing to 
give in adhesion to it they become illegitimate or clandestine. The 
whole matter is one of comity, in which no Grand Lodge can coerce 
another. And if any 'American doctrine' has obtained to the con- 
trary of this, it ought speedily to be repudiated by American Masons, 
as well as by the fraternity elsewhere." 



5« 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



From the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, i88o r 
we cull the following from the Grand Master's address as bearing upon 
this topic : 

' 1 Royal Standard Lodge, holding under the Grand Lodge of Eng- 
land, is with us a pattern Lodge in matters of ritual and discipline ; 
working side by side with us, a healthy emulation is produced, and 
both parties are the better for it. By invitation I lately visited this. 
Lodge, accompanied by the Grand Officers and a large body of Nova. 
Scotia Masons, and the cordial feelings reciprocally expressed gave the 
strongest proof that the existence of an English Lodge in our midst 
was working no injury to the craft here." 

Here we have another evidence of the unsoundness of all objections, 
to concurrent jurisdiction. 

Many more quotations could be given showing that there are many 
Masons in America that do not subscribe to the " American Doctrine 
we have one other, however, which is so full and complete that we 
close our quotations with it. We take it from Bro. Wait's report to 
the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire in t88i. He says : 

" But one subject which has been growing in prominence for some 
years has, during that under review, assumed an importance which 
seems to render all others of comparatively slight moment. It is what 
is known in this country (what its name is elsewhere we are not in- 
formed) as ' The American Doctrine ' of Grand Lodge jurisdiction. 

"What precisely this doctrine is, which has been for a few years 
past invoked by that name, has not, so far as we are aware, ever been 
precisely defined; and, what is quite certain, there is no existing 
power capable either of defining it authoritatively in theory, or pre- 
scribing its practical limits." 

After giving its probable origin in the resolutions of 1782 and 1797,. 
and giving Gardner's amplifications on the same, he says : 

"It is not claimed for this doctrine, so far as we have heard, that 
it is a law of Masonry, belonging to its fundamental or essential prin- 
ciples, or that it obtains elsewhere than on the American continent ; 
and it is quite certain that the doctrine, with these amplifications, is- 
repudiated among Grand Lodges and Masons of the old world. 

"If we are to judge of this doctrine, thus interpreted, by its fruits, 
we have little hesitation in saying that it possesses small title to gene- 
ral favor. It has, so far as we have observed, proved a Pandora's 
box, out of which have sprung nothing but discord and confusion. 
We have as its outgrowth those unseemly contentions which at the 
present time disfigure our Institution in this country, and can scarcely 
fail to make it a by-word and a laughing-stock among the brethren else- 
where, while producing actual estrangement between the Masons of 
this country and Europe. 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



59 



"We believe that, when our brethren of America shall have seen 
enough of edicts of non-intercourse and non-recognition ; when they 
shall have seen enough of discord and confusion ; when, instead of 
Grand Lodge supremacy as the end of Masonry, their hearts shall 
yearn for the universal manifestation of the principles of brotherly 
love, which ought to unite the whole human species in one family, and 
conciliates true friendship among the race universal, they will be ready 
to eschew a doctrine which will prove as surely in the future, as it has 
in the past, potent for evil while powerless for good." 

Further presentation of facts and opinions is unnecessary, for we 
believe sufficient have been adduced to show that the granting of a 
warrant to African Lodge, No. 459, by the Grand Lodge of England, 
in 1784, was no violation of the jurisdictional rights of the Massachu- 
setts Grand Lodge, either real or assumed ; and, furthermore, that 
the occupancy of any State, or Territory, by two or more Grand or 
Subordinate Lodges is no violation of any fundamental Masonic law 
or principle. Therefore, we conclude that the claim that our Grand 
Lodges are illegal because they occupy the same territory as white 
Grand Lodges, is not well founded. 

There may be many who will not agree at present with our con- 
clusions concerning this matter, but we believe the time will come 
when this ' ' American Doctrine " will be abandoned, and, in its stead, 
the true Masonic idea of concurrent jurisdiction, based upon genuine 
authority, will be the universally accepted doctrine. 

We have now met and answered all the reasons that are given for 
our non-recognition. We feel that we have clearly proven that the 
reasons for our objection do not rest upon Masonic law, and have 
neither historical fact nor reasonable presumption for a basis. We feel 
that with fair-minded men — men desiring to be just — there can no 
longer be any doubt that Prince Hall and his Associates were made 
Masons in a legal Lodge ; that they were so recognized as such by the 
Grand Lodge of England ; that the Grand Lodge of England granted 
them a warrant to exist as a Lodge; that the warrant was received in 
this country by Prince Hall and his associates, and that they were 
legally organized under it; that the warrant so received was a true and 
authentic document ; that it was never returned to England for cor- 
rection, but remained in this country in the hands of its proper custo- 
dians, in its original form, void of all mutilations ; that the granting of 
the warrant was no violation of the territorial rights of the Massachu- 
setts Grand Lodge; that there is strong presumptive evidence that 
Prince Hall was deputized as a Provincial Grand Master ; that there 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



were fair and reasonable grounds upon which Prince Hall could base 
his action in exercising the powers of a Provincial Grand Master; 
that the African Grand Lodge, formed in Boston in 1808, was as 
regular as other Grand Lodges formed by white Masons prior and 
subsequent thereto ; that in the death of Prince Hall, in 1807, the 
rights of succession were no more lost than when Warren died on 
Bunker Hill ; that the removing of African Lodge from the lists of the 
Grand Lodge of England, in 18 13, had no more disastrous effect upon 
.said Lodge than upon the many white American Lodges that were re- 
moved at the same and prior times; that the declaration of indepen- 
dence, made by the African Lodge in 1827, destroyed no more of 
its rights than those of the white Lodges which had made similar dec- 
larations at different times ; that the organization of a National Grand 
Lodge, in 1847, destroyed none of the legal rights of the Subordinate 
and Grand Lodges entering therein ; that we are not free-born is an 
objection based upon a false idea, and in opposition to that tenet 
which the " brotherhood of man because of the Fatherhood of God"; 
and that the " Doctrine of Exclusive Territorial Jurisdiction" is but a 
form of government, local in its application, having no foundation in 
Masonic principle, or even General Regulations, and, therefore, hav- 
ing no binding force upon the government of the Fraternity. 

While we feel that we have clearly proven the justness of our claims 
to recognition as legal and regular Masons; while we know there are 
large numbers of white Masons who acknowledge the justness of these 
claims, and stand ready and willing to try us and not deny us, we, also, 
feel and know that there is a vaster and a mightier number who, know- 
ing all these things to be true, yet reject us and deny us. You ask 
what motive can impel these men — men whose eloquent utterances, in 
•chaste and beautiful language, have bid the world to pause and gaze 
upon the matchless symmetry of our grand and noble institution, and 
contemplate in awe the grandeur and sublimity of its principles — to re- 
ject the truth ? It is that slimy-coated and cold-blooded serpent of 
prejudice against the negro. You see it in every walk of life, in the 
workshop and in the counting-house ; in the feeble and tottering im- 
becile and in the little, prattling child ; where e'er you turn, the mon- 
ster, with his ever-open, glassy eye, is staring at you. No place is se- 
cure from his intrusion; go to the halls of justice and you will find 
him there; and even within the sacred portals of God's tabernacles 
does he stealthily crawl, not even sparing the altar where the humble 
Christian kneels to take the consecrated emblems of our Lord and 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



61 



Saviour. This is why we are denied; this is why we are rejected; 
this is why we are termed clandestine, illegal, and irregular. Do we 
.speak at random ? Are we giving play to the fancy ? Would that we 
were, for then our fair institution would not have its escutcheon tar- 
nished with falsehood and hypocrisy. But the recorded expressions of 
-our traducers are before us, and we can not say nay when it is yea. 
That you may know we but speak the truth, we lay before you the ut- 
terances and acts of both individuals and organizations in reference to 
the negro Mason. 

In a letter written to Bro. John D. Caldwell, Grand Secretary of 
the Grand Lodge of Ohio (white), by 111. \ Bro. Albert Pike, Sov. \ 
Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, A. A. S. R., Southern 
Jurisdiction, bearing date of September 13, 1875, ne says: 

' ' Our people only stave offiht question by saying that negro Masons 
here are clandestine. Prince Hall Lodge was as regular a Lodge as 

any Lodge created by competent authority 

" I think there is no middle ground between rigid exclusion of ne- 
groes or recognition and affiliation with the whole mass. 

1 ' I am not inclined to meddle in the matter. I took my obligations 
to white men, not to negroes. When I have to accept negroes as 
brothers or leave Masonry, I shall leave it. 

"I am interested to keep the Ancient and Accepted Rite uncon- 
taminated, in our country at least, by the leprosy of negro association. " 

We have from Brother (?) Pike, first, that we are as regular as any 
other class of Masons, and immediately thereafter, that between recog- 
nizing them as brothers or leaving Masonry, he will leave Masonry. 
Is this prejudice or not? And yet this same Mason (?) stands up in 
the presence of a great multitude in 1868 in St. Louis, and says: 

et God pity the man who will not lay on the altar of Masonry every 
feeling of ambition, every feeling of ill-will in his heart toward a brother 
Mason. Freemasonry is one faith, one great religion, one great com- 
mon altar, around which all men, of all tongues and all languages, can 
assemble. And Masonry will never be true to her mission till we all 
join hands, heart to heart and hand to hand, around the altar of Ma- 
sonry, with a determination that Masonry shall become at some time 
worthy of her pretensions — no longer a pretender to that which is 
good ; but that she shall be an apostle of peace, good-will, charity, and 
toleration." 

What think you of a man professing to be a Mason uttering such 
sentiments as these and then declaring that he would leave Masonry 
-before recognizing a negro as a brother? 



62 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



God pity Brother Pike and the thousands of canting hypocrites like 
him. 

In 1870, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspon- 
dence, of Virginia, says : 

" Respecting negro Masons, it behooves us to speak with unabated 
breath. In the palmiest days of royal despotism the hand of Douglass 
was his own, and never will Southern Masons acquiesce in the over- 
throw of ancient landmarks, subjecting them to the necessity of meet- 
ing upon the level with their former slaves." 

Brother Lewis, of New York, says, in reviewing Alabama : 

"Brother Penic seems to apprehend trouble from the negro busi- 
ness in the future. We do not see that there is any need of appre- 
hension. It is not within the bounds of probability that any regular 
Grand Lodge will consent to swell its jurisdiction by the creation of 
negro Lodges; but if the taste of any should run in that direction, the 
rest of us still retain the right to withhold our recognition of that kind 
of work, and to close the doors of our Lodges against any and all 
likely to disturb our peace and harmony." 

Here is certainly sufficient evidence of a very bitter prejudice against 
the negro, and these examples might be multiplied by the score, but 
we do not deem it necessary ; neither shall we review the action of the 
various Grand Lodges, excepting New Jersey, in which this question 
of the recognition of negro Masons has been introduced, more than to 
say that in many of them may be found resolution after resolution set- 
ting forth the inferiority of the negro and his unfitness to become a 
Mason, or to be recognized as one if already made. The history of 
Alpha Lodge, No. 16, of New Jersey, is familiar to all Masonic' stu- 
dents, but for the uninformed we quote from the record. The Lodge 
was regularly organized and duly warranted, after which it made a num- 
ber of colored men Masons; this raised considerable excitement, not 
only in New Jersey, but throughout the United States, so much so that 
the warrant was arrested ; the Lodge was finally allowed to die, and 
the colored brethren made therein set adrift without chart or compass. 
Now, these brethren having been made in a legal and regular Lodge 
under the authority of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, which held 
fraternal relations with all the other Grand Lodges in America, were 
certainly not clandestine ; then why all this excitement and subsequent 
arrest of warrant ? Simply because they were negroes, and the curse 
of prejudice was against them. And this curse has followed us here 
in America, wherever and whenever we have presented our claims for 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



63 



recognition. If we have applied as profanes we have been met with 
either the silent, but sure and certain black ball, or with the mandatory 
resolution of a Grand Lodge hurled against us with all the force of a 
unanimous ballot; if, as an organization, with humble manner apolo- 
gizing for our existence, and with agreement to surrender our legal 
rights, meaningless resolutions embodying conclusions that are as false 
as they are unjust are given to us; if we come in the upright stature 
of men and Masons demanding what is our right, we are met with 
parliamentary quibbles. The experience of history teaches us that the 
animus of all these varied actions has its seat in the prejudice of the 
white American against the negro. 

This is the history of the past; what the future may bring forth we 
know not, yet we do not despair of ultimate success in having all our 
rights as Masons accorded to us. With the steady acquirement of 
civil and political rights, and all other rights pertaining to humanity, 
must come a recognition of our Masonic rights. It has already com- 
menced in foreign lands, where, in France, and Italy, and Germany, 
and Hungary, and Peru, and Dominica, our representatives, received 
and accredited as such, are proclaiming to the world the true Masonic 
doctrine of a universal brotherhood. 

And may we not say that it is dawning in America? Has there not 
been some progress, some advancement made toward the right? We 
think so. In 1847, the Grand Lodge of Ohio (white), under the im- 
pulse of prejudice against the negro, "Resolved, that in the opinion of 
this Grand Lodge it would be inexpedient, and tend to ruin the pres- 
ent harmony of the fraternity to admit persons of color, so called, 
into the fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons within the jurisdic- 
tion of this Grand Lodge." 

In 1875, the progessive spirit of justice and right had made suffi- 
cient advancement for the brotherhood to see that a ''New Day" was 
dawning, and that a "New Duty" was incumbent upon them. And 
to Bro. John D. Caldwell, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of 
Ohio (white), must the credit be given for awakening the craft to a 
sense of the responsibilities which they assume in failing to perform 
this duty. 

And in the same year, under the influence of this same progressive 
spirit, the temper of the Grand Lodge that adopted the above resolu- 
tion had become sufficiently modified to permit the reception and ref- 
erence to a committee of the following eloquent letter, written by 
Bro. F. I. Werner, W. M. of Hanselman Lodge, No. 208, Cincinnati, 



6 4 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



Ohio, every line of which proves him a Mason in the truest and fullest 
meaning of the word: 

"Cincinnati, in October, 1875. 

' ' To the Grand Lodge of Masons for the State of Ohio : 

"Brethren: — I beg leave to respectfully present for your kind 
consideration the following memorial: 

"The United Grand Lodge of Masons of Germany have, at their 
convention in Darmstadt, in the month of May, 1875, passed the fol- 
lowing resolution in relation to the colored Grand Lodges of America :. 

' With regard to the motions made by the Grand Lodge, ' Prince 
Hall,' and the Grand Lodge of Ohio (colored), the convention of 
Grand Lodges declares that these Grand Lodges appear properly con- 
stituted, and that the German Lodges will accord to the members of 
those Lodges and of their sister Lodges, without reserve and joyfully, 
acceptance into their Lodges.' 

"Upon reading this resolution, the following questions presented 
themselves to my mind : What influence will this action have upon 
the discussions of our own Grand Lodge? Will they, at last, com- 
pelled by outward pressure, take up the subject of Negro Lodges in 
earnest, or will silence and inaction be repeatedly the watchword, as 
it has been time and again, allowing prejudice against the race and. 
color to override those very principles of justice and brotherly love we 
like to glory in so much? Or will the whole discussion, if taken up at 
all, terminate in a fruitless and passionate debate over a transgression 
upon our respective jurisdictions ? Very likely the latter, I thought. 

"And now, brethren, in my humble opinion, common humanity r 
self-respect, and the highest interests of our beloved brotherhood im- 
periously demand from us to at least ascertain the facts respecting, 
colored Lodges. The men constituting the same either are Masons 
or are not. If they are, we have no earthly right, and no excuse 
whatever, to let things go on as heretofore, and not to recognize them, 
as such. If they are not Masons, if they are impostors, then we must 
proclaim it to the world. Justice to ourselves demands it. 

"It would be contrary to Masonic principles and to Masonic phil- 
osophy not to recognize them, if they are Masons — all prejudices of 
white people against negroes notwithstanding. It would, on the other 
hand, be the grossest neglect of our duty as Masons not to unvail to 
the world's vision their imposition, if they are not Masons. It would 
be, finally, on our part, as men and Masons, an exhibition of extreme 
weakness and (I hope I do not offend you) cowardice, if we did not, 
at the earliest moment, put an end to this anomalous state of affairs in 
the Masonic world by a speedy examination into the same, and manly, 
decisive action thereafter. 

"Are we afraid of the light shed on the subject by such examina- 
tion? If we are, let us abandon our proud proclamation, 'Let there be 
light!' If we are not, let us have speedy action, and rid the Masonic 
world of an unqualified misery, which makes us feel uneasy as ofteix 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



65 



as we venture to discuss it, and creates serious doubts in our own 
minds as often as we declare the supremacy of Masonic principles. 

" In view of this, and in consideration that this negro question 
should be looked squarely into the face, as it will create not less an 
' irrepressible conflict ' in the Masonic world than it did in the political 
world, and in further consideration that we, as true Masons, are ever- 
ready to seek after truth and deal with justice I present the following 
for your action : 

"Believing that the Grand Lodge of Masons for the State of Ohio 
is aware of the existence in this State of organized bodies of colored 
citizens, who claim to be in possession of the signs and secrets of Free 
and Accepted Ancient Freemasonry, the undersigned regards it as the 
paramount duty of the Grand Lodge of white Masons to appoint a 
committee, whose duty it shall be to inquire into the legitimacy of said 
claim ; and if, upon examination, it shall appear well founded, then I 
respectfully urge that the necessary steps be taken to utilize this timber, 
rather than condemn it as rotten and unfit for use, without having sub- 
jected it to a fair, candid, and impartial test. 

" Very respectfully, F. I. Werner, W. M., 

^ Hans elma nn Lodge, No. 208, F. and A. 

Would that every Mason throughout our land had implanted with- 
in him the seeds of such noble thoughts as are given expression to in 
this letter ; then might Masonry indeed be true to her profession. 

In this same year, from the Grand East of the Grand Lodge of 
Ohio (white), Bro. Asa H. Battin, in the spirit of true Masonry, ut- 
ters these words : 

ii In this great centennial year, whilst liberty and equality are shed 
abroad through our great nation, is it not right and proper that we, as 
Masons, shall at least attempt to bring about, by proper means and in 
a legal manner, a union of these two Grand Lodges in one State ? If 
there is any illegality in the organization of either, let it be healed. 
It has been done before, and it can be again. Let us, then, with that 
charity and liberality which characterizes all Masons, extend the fra- 
ternal hand of fellowship to our brethren of every nation, clime, race, 
and kindred under heaven. And let it be, too, not only in name, but 
in spirit and in truth. Let us illustrate our teachings by example. 
And as the crowning glory of republican government is the equality 
of all men before the law, so should the crowning glory of our Mystic 
Temple be the equality of all men without regard to race or previous 
condition. Brethren, this question must be met. We may, for the 
present, pass by on the other side ; we may look upon it, fold our 
mantles around us, and pass on ; but the Good Samaritan is coming, 
has come, and is pouring the oil of fellowship into the wounds, bind- 
ing up the bruises and taking the sufferers to his own house. Why 
should we longer delay? I am vain enough to believe that we are 
capable of meeting it fairly. I have faith in our people. I have faith 



66 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



in their sense of justice and magnanimity. I can not believe that 
many years can elapse before the great body of Colored Masons will 
be recognized as a part of the great Masonic family, and accorded 
their rights as such. I have candidly expressed my opinion, and I 
leave the matter to you for your consideration, earnestly hoping that 
you may have wisdom to devise some means by which the Masons of 
Ohio may be united into one family and brotherly love prevail. If 
within the great centennial year this result can be accomplished, or 
measures taken looking to such result, we shall have reason to rejoice 
that the march of progress is onward and upward, and the universal 
brotherhood of man, on the Western Continent, fully, fairly, and un- 
changeably established, and the world made better by our example." 

Brother Werner's letter and Brother Battin's remarks were referred 
to a special committee, who, in the same spirit as the writers thereof, 
and in the defense of truth and justice, certifying to our legal exis- 
tence and paving the way to a just adjudication of our claims, unani- 
mously submitted the following report : 

" PROPOSED RECOGNITION OF THE COLORED GRAND LODGE OF OHIO. 

"Your committee to whom was referred so much of the annual 
address of the Most Worshipful Grand Master, and accompanying 
documents, as relates to the so-called colored Lodges, and more es- 
pecially the colored Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of 
the State of Ohio, have given the subject careful consideration, and 
respectfully submit the following : 

" We do not propose, nor do we deem it necessary at this time, to 
enter into the history of the origin of so-called colored Freemasonry 
in this country. That subject has been fully discussed in nearly all 
the Grand Lodges and Masonic periodicals of this country for more 
than twenty-five years past. 

"Your Committee deem it sufficient to say that they are satisfied 
beyond all question that colored Freemasonry had a legitimate begin- 
ning in this country, as much so as any other Freemasonry; in fact, 
it came from the same source. 

"Your Committee will not attempt, at this time, to investigate as 
to the transmission of this legitimate beginning down to the present 
time, when we find more than forty Subordinate Lodges and a Grand 
Lodge of so-called colored Freemasons, and an aggregate of more 
than eight hundred members in the State of Ohio. Your Committee 
have only to say that such is the fact. 

" Your Committee have the most satisfactory and conclusive evi- 
dence that these colored Freemasons practice the very same rites and 
ceremonies, and have substantially the same esoteric or secret modes 
of recognition as are practiced by ourselves and by the universal family 
of Freemasons throughout the world. 

"The question of the recognition of these colored Freemasons has 
long been before this Grand Body, and your Committee feel that its 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



6 7 



importance is pressing upon us, and demanding prompt, serious, and 
decided action. 

" Your Committee, therefore, offer for adoption the following reso- 
lution : 

" Resolved, by the ' Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honor- 
able Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Ohio,' 
that this Grand body will recognize the so-called Grand Lodge of 
colored Freemasons of the State of Ohio as a legitimate and indepen- 
dent Grand Lodge, on condition that the so-called colored Grand 
Lodge shall change its constitutional title, so that it shall read as fol- 
lows : ' The African Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the 
State of Ohio. ' And if the said so-called colored Grand Lodge shall 
accept this recognition and make the suggested change in its constitu- 
tional title, then, and in that case, upon said action being reported to 
the M. \V. Grand Master of this Grand Lodge, under the seal of said 
body, then the M. W. Grand Master is hereby authorized and in- 
structed to issue his proclamation to the subordinates to this Grand 
Lodge and to the Grand Lodges - throughout the world, with which we 
are in fraternal correspondence, recognizing the said so-called colored 
Grand Lodge as an Independent Grand Lodge in the State of Ohio, 
under the title of ' The African Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted 
Masons of the State of Ohio. ' 

" Respectfully submitted, L. V. Bierce, C. A. Woodward, 

E. T. Carson, L. H. Pike," 

F. WlLLMER, 

These papers will form an important part of the Masonic literature 
of Ohio, and they will illuminate the pages of Masonic history with a 
brilliancy of such power that the names thereon will be seen of gener- 
ations yet unborn. 

But what of the "report of the committee?" Did the Grand Lodge 
adopt it? Alas, it did not! A "point of order," a parliamentary 
quibble, which the Grand Master, Bro. Chas. A. Woodward, ruled as 
not well taken, decided its fate. From the Grand Master's decision 
an appeal was taken, which resulted in three hundred and thirty-two 
votes being cast to " sustain the decision of the Grand Master as the 
opinion of the Grand Lodge," and three hundred and ninety votes 
against the same, a majority of only fifty-eight against the Grand Mas- 
ter, out of a total of seven hundred and twenty-two votes. If only 
thirty other brethren had voted " aye," what a change there would 
have been in the Masonic history of Ohio. No need, there would be 
now, to write these lines. Ohio would indeed have become an apostle 
of peace, good-will, charity, and toleration.' But no, it was not to be so ; 
the wily Cunningham, like he at Thermopylae, who betrayed the noble 
Spartan band by showing to the enemy the secret pass, led the oppo- 

5 



68 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



nents of truth and justice to victory by a trick of shrewd parliamentary 
practice. Although error and injustice triumphed for the time being, 
the influence of these three hundred and thirty-two advocates of right 
— these three hundred and thirty-two exponents of the progress of the 
true spirit of Masonry — will be felt, and Ohio, moving forward under 
the inspiration of this influence, must, per force of its power, "once 
more unto the breach," and raise her standard for " equality and fra- 
ternity." 

Masons of Ohio, Masons of America, Masons of the world, where- 
soever dispersed, the negro Mason of America stands before you to- 
day as a just and upright Mason, and as such demands that you shall 
try him by the square of virtue, and having tried him and found him 
just and true, he further demands that you deny him not, but that you 
receive him and accept him, and accord unto him all of right that may 
belong to him. He does not make this demand because he is a negro, 
neither does he ask that you do this as a favor; but he demands it be- 
cause he is a Mason as you are, and because his right to the title of 
Free and Accepted Mason is equal to yours — no more, no less. 

Do not be frightened and think that we ask this act of justice on 
your part for the purpose of gratifying an idle curiosity to peer into 
your Lodge rooms, or to force ourselves into your company against 
your desire ; we do it for nothing of the sort. We know, from expe- 
rience, that the curiosity will be on your side, and, thanks for our 
close adherence to the rites of our profession, we feel amply able to 
satisfy it ; we know that our Lodge rooms will be the ones most fre- 
quently visited, and we assure you that you will always receive the 
fraternal welcome of a true Mason. 

But this is why we demand it : We have always been taught that 
Masonry is universal in its character ; that neither race nor creed can 
debar one from an entrance therein ; that the beggar and the prince 
are alike equals within its closely tiled doors, and that its "central 
idea is the ' brotherhood of man because of the Fatherhood of God.' " 
Because of all these things ; because we desire that the stigma of hy- 
pocrisy, deceit, and injustice shall be forever blotted out; because we 
desire that our ancient and noble and grand institution shall have a 
name honored of all men and all nations, in all countries and in all 
climes, of all creeds and all faiths ; and because we desire that our in- 
stitution shall be as beauteous and glorious as the noonday sun at me- 
ridian height, darting its rays to the North and the South, to the East 
and the West, bathing all humanity in a glorious flood of the sunshine 



THE NEGRO MASON IN EQUITY. 



6 9 



of peace and good-will, is why we demand that you bury your preju- 
dices and prove yourselves Masons indeed. 

We have nothing to gain in your legal recognition of us as Masons ; 
the gain is all for you and the institution of Freemasonry. That we 
are just and legal Masons is so well established that it is now beyond 
the power of man to controvert it. For more than one hundred years 
we have existed as Free and Accepted Masons ; we have now com- 
menced the second century of our existence as such ; from the lowest 
round of humility we have climbed far up the ladder of fame; from the 
small beginning of fifteen black men, scoffed at, sneered at, insulted, 
and ridiculed, we have grown to grand proportions, until to-day we com- 
mand the respect of Masons in all parts of the world ; what we are to- 
day has been accomplished by our own exertions, isolated and rejected 
as we have been ; if, by our own exertions alone, we must build our 
second century, we will make it more illustrious than the first; we will 
proudly hold aloft our heads, and courageously fighting our battles, 
we will neither give nor ask quarter. 

Our task is done. If we have been tedious ; if we have been ex- 
cessive in the matter of quotations ; if we have made repetitions, it 
has only been to more forcibly impress you with the point presented, 
and to sustain it with the strongest corroborative evidence. 

In parting from you we again say, do what is just, not for our sake, 
but for the sake of Masonry. You can not afford to do otherwise, for 
the world is gazing upon you, and as you act, so will it judge. 

If you shall continue to refuse to have the light of justice and 
reason to illuminate your benighted intelligence, and shall refuse to 
accord us those rights legally belonging to us, we will appeal to the 
world at large for a judgment, and, as Free and Accepted Masons, 
will go bravely forward in the cause of freedom and humanity, writ- 
ing, in letters of blazing gold, the legend — Negro Masonry, the 
essence of Truth, Justice, Brotherly Love, Equality and Fra- 
ternity ! ! 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




